Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WIDOW-BENCH, n. [widow and bench.]

In Sussex, that share which a widow is allowed of her husband's estate, besides her jointure. Cyc.

WIDOW-ED, pp.

1. Bereaved of a husband by death.
2. Deprived of some good; stripped. Trees of their shrivel'd fruits Are widow'd. Philips.

WIDOW-ER, n.

A man who has lost his wife by death.

WIDOW-HOOD, n.

1. The state of being a widow.
2. Estate settled on a widow. [Not in use.] Shak.

WIDOW-HUNT-ER, n. [widow and hunter.]

One who seeks or courts widows for a jointure or fortune. Addison.

WIDOW-ING, ppr.

Bereaving of a husband; depriving; stripping.

WID'OW-MAK-ER, n. [widow and maker.]

One who makes widows by destroying lives. Shak.

WID'OW-WAIL, n.

In botany, a plant of the genus Cneorum. Lee..

WIDTH, n. [from wide; G. weik; D. wydte.]

Breadth; wideness; the extent of a thing from side to side; as, the width of cloth; the width of a door. Dryden.

WIELD, v.t. [Sax. wealdan, walden; Goth. ga-waldan, to is govern; wald, power, dominion; Dan. wade, power; gevalt, force, authority; Sw. valde, power; allied to L valeo, Eng. well. The primary sense of power and strength is to stretch or strain. This seems to be the Russ. vladyu, to rule, and mild or vlad, in names, as Waldemir, Vlademir.]

1. To use with full command or power, as a thing not too heavy for the holder; to manage; as, to wield a sword; to wield the scepter. Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed. Milton.
2. To use or employ with the hand. Nothing but the influence of a civilized power could induce a savage to wield a spade. S. S. Smith.
3. To handle; in an ironical sense. Base Hungarian wight, wilt thou the spigot wield? Shak. To wield the scepter, to govern with supreme command.

WIELD-ED, pp.

Used with command; managed. win

WIELD-ING, ppr.

Using with power; managing.

WIELD-LESS, a.

Unmanageable. Spenser.

WIELD-Y, a.

That may be wielded; manageable.

WI'ER-Y, a. [from wire.]

1. Made of wire; having the properties of wire. It would be better written Wiry.
2. [Sax. waer, a pool.] Wet; marshy. [Not in use.] Shak.

WIFE, n. plur.

1. Wives. [Sax. unf; Ant.; G. weib, woman.]
2. The lawful consort of a man; a woman who is united to a man in the lawful bonds of wedlock; the correlative of husband. The husband of one wife. 1 Tim. iii. Let every one of you in particular, so love his wife even as himself, and let the wife see that she reverence her husband. Eph. v.  
3. A woman of low employment; as, strawberry wives. [Not in use.] Shak.

WIFE-HOOD, n.

State and character of a wife. Beaumont & Fletcher.

WIFE-LESS, a.

Without a wife; unmarried. Chaucer.

WIG,

in Saxon, signifies war. It is found in some names.

WIG, n. [G. week, wig, and week-butter, roll butter. It would It seem that the sense is a roll or twist interwoven.]

1. A covering for the head, consisting of hair interwoven or united by a kind of net-work, formerly much worn by men.
2. A sort of cake. [Obs.] Ainsworth.

WIG'EON,

See WIDGEON.

WIGHT, a. [Sax. hive.]

Swift; nimble. [Obs.] Spenser. [This seems to be a dialectical form of quick]

WIGHT, n. [Sax. wild, G. wicht, a living being, Goth. waiht; L. victum, from vivo, to live, originally vigo or vico, and probably allied to vigeo. This, in the Celtic form, would be quic or qwig, Eng, quick, alive; and hence L. qui, qua, quid, quod, contracted from nic, quieed, quoced; Scot. quhat. y The letter h, in the Gothic and Scotish, representing the c of the Latin, proves the word to be thus contracted.]

A being; a person. It is obsolete, except in irony or burlesque. [See Aught.] The 'sight of all the world who lov'd thee best. Dryden.

WIGHT-LY, adv.

Swiftly; nimbly. [Obs.] Spenser.

WIG'WAM, n.

An Indian cabin or hut, so called in America. It: is sometimes written iceekiram. Mackenzie writes the Knisteneaux word, wigwaum, and the Algonquin, wiguiwaum. Query, is this the L virus? Vic in Roman was pronounced wic or week. These words may have been derived from one primitive root.