Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WIFE-HOOD, n.

State and character of a wife. – Beaumont & Fletcher.

WIFE-LESS, a.

Without a wife; unmarried. – Chaucer.

WIG, n.¹

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

WIG, n.² [G. weck, wig, and weck-butter, roll butter. It would 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, n. [See WIDGEON.]

WIGHT, a. [Sax. hwæt.]

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

WIGHT, n. [Sax. wiht, 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, quæ, quid, quod, contracted from quic, quiced, quoced; Scot. quhat. 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 It is obsolete, except in irony or burlesque.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 wight 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 weekwam. Mackenzie writes the Knisteneaux word, wigwaum, and the Algonquin, wiguiwaum. Query, is this the L. vicus? Vic in Roman was pronounced wic or week. These words may have been derived from one primitive root.

WILD, a. [Sax. wild; D. and G. wild; Sw. and Dan. vild; W. gwyllt; connected with Sax. wealh, a traveler, foreigner or pilgrim; G. wälsch, Celtic, Welsh; wallen, to rove, Sw. villa, förvilla. This sense is obvious.]

1. Roving; wandering; inhabiting the forest or open field; hence not tamed or domesticated; as, a wild boar; a wild ox; a wild cat; a wild bee.
2. Growing without culture; as, wild parsnep; wild cherry; wild tansy. Wild rice, a palatable and nutritious food, grows spontaneously in the lakes and ponds of the North West territory. – J. Morse.
3. Desert; not inhabited; as, a wild forest.
4. Savage; uncivilized; not refined by culture; as, the wild natives of Africa or America.
5. Turbulent; tempestuous; irregular; as, a wild tumult. The wild winds howl. – Addison.
6. Licentious; ungoverned; as, wild passions. Valor grown wild by pride. – Prior.
7. Inconstant; mutable; fickle. In the ruling passion, there alone The wild are constant, and the cunning known. – Pope.
8. Inordinate; loose. A fop well dress'd, extravagant and wild. – Dryden.
9. Uncouth; loose. What are these, / So wither'd, and so wild in their attire? – Shake.
10. Irregular; disorderly; done without plan or order; as, to make wild work. – Milton.
11. Not well digested; not framed according to the ordinary rules of reason; not being within the limits of probable practicability; imaginary; fanciful; as, a wild project or scheme; wild speculations.
12. Exposed to the wind and sea; as, a wild roadstead. – Mar. Dict.
13. Made or found in the forest; as, wild honey. Wild is prefixed to the names of many plants, to distinguish them from such of the name as are cultivated in gardens, as, wild basil, wild parsnep, wild carrot, wild olive, &c.

WILD, n.

A desert; an uninhabited and uncultivated tract, or region; a forest or sandy desert; as, the wilds of America; the wilds of Africa; the sandy wilds of Arabia. Then Libya first, of all her moisture drain'd, / Became a barren waste, a wild of sand. – Addison.

WILD-BORN, a.

Born in a wild state.

WILD-CAT, n.

1. The cat which is supposed to be the original stock of the domestic cat. It is said to exist still in Europe.
2. In America, the Felis rufa.

WILD'ER, a.

More wild.

WIL'DER, v.t. [Dan. vilder, from vild, wild.]

To lose or cause to lose the way or track; to puzzle with mazes or difficulties; to bewilder. Long lost and wilder'd in the maze of fate. – Pope.

WIL'DER-ED, pp.

Lost in a pathless tract; puzzled.

WIL'DER-ING, ppr.

Puzzling.

WIL'DER-NESS, n. [from wild.]

1. A desert; a tract of land or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings, whether a forest or a wide barren plain. In the United States, it is applied only to a forest. In Scripture, it is applied frequently to the deserts of Arabia. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness forty years.
2. The ocean. The wat'ry wilderness yields no supply. – Waller.
3. A state of disorder. [Not in use.]
4. A wood in a garden, resembling a forest.

WILD'EST, a.

Most wild.

WILD-EY-ED, a.

Having eyes appearing wild.

WILD-FIRE, n. [wild and fire.]

1. A composition of inflammable materials. Brimstone, pitch, wildfire, burn easily, and are hard to quench. – Bacon.
2. A disease of sheep, attended with inflammation of the skin; a kind of erysipelas. – Cyc.

WILD-FOWL, n. [wild and fowl.]

Fowls of the forest, or untamed.

WILD-GOOSE, n. [wild and goose.]

An aquatic fowl of the genus Anas, the Anas Anser, a fowl of passage. These geese fly to the south in autumn, and return to the north in the spring. This species is the stock of the domestic goose. The wild-goose of North America, also migratory, is a distinct species, the Anas Canadensis. Wild-goose chase, the pursuit of something as unlikely to be caught as the wild-goose. – Shak.

WILD-HON-EY, n. [wild and honey.]

Honey that is found in the forest, in hollow trees or among rocks.

WILD'ING, n.¹

That which is wild or growing without cultivation. Scott.