Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WAFT'AGE, n.

Conveyance or transportation through a buoyant medium, as air or water. – Shak.

WAFT'ED, pp.

Borne or conveyed through air or water.

WAFT'ER, n.

1. He or that which wafts; a passage boat.
2. The conductor of vessels at sea; an old word.

WAFT'ING, n.

A bearing or floating in a fluid.

WAFT'ING, ppr.

Carrying through a buoyant medium.

WAFT'URE, n.

The act of waving. [Not in use.] – Shak.

WAG, n. [from the verb.]

A droll; a man full of low sport and humor; a ludicrous fellow. We wink at wags, when they offend. – Dryden. The counselor never pleaded without a piece of packthread in his hand, which he used to twist about his finger all the while he was speaking; the wags used to call it the thread of his discourse. – Addison.

WAG, v.i.

1. To be quick in ludicrous motion; to stir. 'Tis merry in hall, where beards wag all. – Shak. Tremble and start at wagging of a straw. – Shak.
2. To go; to depart; to pack off. I will provoke him to't, or let him wag. – Shak.
3. To be moved one way and the other. The resty sieve wagg'd ne'er the more. – Dryden.

WAG, v.i. [Sax. wagian and wecgan; G. bewegen; D. beweegen, to move, to stir; weegen, to weigh; G. wägen, to weigh; Sw. väga, Dan. vajer, to wag, to weigh. This is the radix of the L. vacillo, Eng. fickle, wagon, wain, way, wave, waggle, &c.]

To move one way and the other with quick turns; to move a little way, and then turn the other way; as, to wag the head. Every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head. – Jer. xviii. Matt. xxvii. [Wag expresses particularly the motion of the head and body used in buffoonery, mirth, derision, sport and mockery. It is applied also to birds and beasts; as, to wag the tail.]

WAGE, v.t. [G. wagen; D. waagen; Sw. våga, to venture, to dare, to wage; Fr. gager, for guager, to lay or bet; from the root of wag. The sense is to throw, to lay or throw down, as a glove or gauntlet.]

1. To lay; to bet; to throw down, as a pledge; to stake; to put at hazard on the event of a contest. This is the common popular sense of the word in New England; as, to wage a dollar; to wage a horse.
2. To venture; to hazard. To wake and wage a danger profitless. – Shak.
3. To make; to begin; to carry on; that is, to go forward or advance to attack, as in invasion or aggression; used in the phrase, to wage war. He waged war with all his enemies. He ponder'd, which of all his sons was fit / To reign, and wage immortal war with wit. – Dryden.
4. To set to hire. Thou must wage / Thy works for wealth. [Not in use.] – Spenser.
5. To take to hire; to hire for pay; to employ for wages; as, waged soldiers. He was well waged and rewarded. [Fr. Obs.] – Ralegh. To wage one's law, to give security to make one's law. The defendant is then to swear that he owes nothing to the plaintif, and eleven neighbors, called compurgators, are to avow upon their oaths, that they believe in their consciences that he has declared the truth. This is called wager of law. – Blackstone.

WA'GED, pp.

Laid; deposited; as a pledge; made or begun, as war.

WA'GER, n.

1. Something deposited, laid or hazarded on the event of a contest or some unsettled question; a bet. Besides these plates for horse-races, the wagers may be as the persons please. – Temple. If any atheist can stake his soul for a wager against such an inexhaustible disproportion … – Bentley.
2. Subject on which bets are laid. – Sidney.
3. In law, an offer to make oath of innocence or non-indebtedness; or the act of making oath, together with the oaths of eleven compurgators, to fortify the defendant's oath. Wager of battle, is when the tenant in a writ of right, offers to prove his right by the body of his champion, and throwing down his glove as a gage or pledge, thus wages or stipulates battle with the champion of the demandant, who by taking up the glove, accepts the challenge. The champions, armed with batons, enter the list, and taking each other by the hand, each swears to the justice of the cause of the party for whom he appears; they then fight till the stars appear, and if the champion of the tenant can defend himself till that time, his cause prevails. – Blackstone.

WA'GER, v.t.

To lay; to bet; to hazard on the issue of a contest, or on some question that is to be decided, or on some casualty. – Dryden.

WA'GER-ED, pp.

Laid; pledged; as a bet.

WA'GER-ER, n.

One who wages or lays a bet.

WA'GER-ING, ppr.

Laying; betting. Wagering policy, in commerce, a policy of insurance, insuring a sum of money when no property is at hazard; as, a policy to insure money on a ship when no property is on board; that is, insurance, interest or no interest: or a wagering policy may be a policy to insure property which is already insured. Such policies in England are by statute 19 Geo. III. made null and void.

WA'GES, n. [plural in termination, but singular in signification. Fr. gage, gages.]

1. Hire; reward; that which is paid or stipulated for services, but chiefly for services by manual labor, or for military and naval services. We speak of servant's wages, a laborer's wages, or soldier's wages; but we never apply the word to the rewards given to men in office, which are called fees or salary. The word is however sometimes applied to the compensation given to representatives in the legislature. [United States.] Tell me, what shall thy wages be? – Gen. xxix. Be content with your wages. – Luke iii.
2. Reward; fruit; recompense; that which is given or received in return. The wages of sin is death. – Rom. vi.

WAG'GEL, or WAG'EL, n.

A name given in Cornwall to the martinazo, dung-hunter, or dung-bird, a species of Larus or sea-gull, [L. parasiticus.] – Cyc. – Dict. Nat. Hist. – Ed. Encyc.

WAG'GER-Y, n. [from wag.]

Mischievous merriment; sportive trick or gayety; sarcasm in good humor; as, the waggery of a school-boy. – Locke.

WAG'GING, ppr.

Moving the head one way and the other with quick turns.

WAG'GISH, a.

1. Mischievous in sport; roguish in merriment or good humor; frolicksome; as, a company of waggish boys. – L'Estrange.
2. Done, made or laid in waggery or for sport; as, a waggish trick.

WAG'GISH-LY, adv.

In a waggish manner; in sport.

WAG'GISH-NESS, n.

Mischievous sport; wanton merriment. – Bacon.

WAG'GLE, v.i. [D. waggelen; G. wackeln; L. vacillo, dim. of wag.]

To waddle; to reel or move from side to side. Why do you go nodding und waggling so? – L'Estrange.

WAG'GLE, v.t.

To move one way and the other; as, a bird waggles its tail.