Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WEL'COM-ED, pp.

Received with gladness and kindness.

WEL'COME-LY, adv.

In a welcome manner. – Brown.

WEL'COME-NESS, n.

Gratefulness; agreeableness; kind reception. – Boyle.

WEL'COM-ER, n.

One who salutes or receives kindly a new comer. – Shak.

WEL'COM-ING, ppr.

Saluting or receiving with kindness a new comer or guest.

WELD, or WOLD, n.

A plant used by dyers to give a yellow color, and sometimes called driers weed. It is much cultivated in Kent for the London dyers. It is naturalized in some parts of Connecticut. It is the Reseda Luteola of the botanists. – Cyc.

WELD, v.t.¹

To wield. [Obs.] – Spenser.

WELD, v.t.² [Sw. välla, to weld; G. wellen, to join; D. wellen, to well, to spring, to soder.]

To unite or hammer into firm union, as two pieces of iron when heated almost to fusion.

WELD'ED, pp.

Forged or beat into union in an intense heat.

WELD'ER, n.

1. One who welds iron.
2. A manager; an actual occupant. [Not in use.]

WELD'ING, ppr.

Uniting in an intense heat.

WELD'ING-HEAT, n.

The heat necessary for welding iron bars, which is said to be 60° by Wedgwood's pyrometer, and 8877° by Fahrenheit.

WEL'FARE, n. [well and fare, a good going; G. wohlfahrt; D. welvaart; Sw. valfart; Dan. velfærd.]

1. Exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; prosperity; happiness; applied to persons.
2. Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government; applied to states.

WELK, v.i. [G. and D. welken, to wither, to fade, to decay; primarily to shrink or contract, as things in drying, whence the Saxon weolc, a whilk or whelk, a shell; from its wrinkles.]

To decline; to fade; to decay; to fall. When ruddy Phœbus 'gins to welk in west. – Spenser. [Obs.]

WELK, v.t.

To contract; to shorten. Now sad winter welked hath the day. – Spenser. [This word is obsolete. But its signification has heretofore been misunderstood.]

WELK'ED, pp. [or adj.]

Contracted into wrinkles or ridges. Horns welk'd and wav'd like the enridged sea. – Shak. [Obs.]

WELK'IN, n. [Sax. wolc, wolcen, a cloud, the air, ether, the vault of heaven; G. wolke, a cloud. Qu. Sax. wealcan, to roll, to full.]

The visible regions of the air; the vault of heaven. – Chaucer. Milton. [This is obsolete, unless in poetry.] Welkin eye, in Shakspeare, is interpreted by Johnson, a blue eye, from welkin, the sky; by Todd, a rolling eye, from Sax. wealcan, to roll; and by Entick, a languishing eye. See Welk. It is obsolete, at least in New England.

WELK'ING, ppr.

Fading; declining; contracting.

WELL, a. [Sax. wel or well; G. wohl; D. wel; Sw. väl, Dan. vel; W. gwell, better; gwella, to make better, to mend, to improve; Arm. guellaat; L. valeo, to be strong Gr. ολος, whole, and ουλω, to be well; Sans. bala, bali, strength. The primary sense of valeo is to strain, stretch, whence to advance, to prevail, to gain, according to our vulgar phrase, to get ahead, which coincides with prosper, Gr. προσφερω. I do not find well used in other languages as an adjective, but it is so used in English. See Weal.]

1. Being in health; having a sound body, with a regular performance of the natural and proper functions of all the organs; applied to animals; as, a well man; the patient has recovered, and is perfectly well. While you are well, you may do much good. – Taylor. Is your father well? – Gen. xliii.
2. Fortunate; convenient; advantageous; happy. It well for us that we are sequestered so far from the rest of the world. It was well with us in Egypt. – Numb. xi.
3. Being in favor. He was well with Henry the Fourth. – Dryden.

WELL, adv.

1. In a proper manner; justly; rightly; not ill or wickedly. – James. If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. – Gen. iv.
2. Skillfully; with due art; as, the work is well done; he writes well; he rides well; the plot is well laid, and well executed.
3. Sufficiently; abundantly. Lot … beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where. – Gen. xiii.
4. Very much; to a degree that gives pleasure. I liked the entertainment well.
5. Favorably; with praise. All the world speaks well of you. – Pope.
6. Conveniently; suitably; advantageously. This is all the mind can well contain. I can not well attend the meeting.
7. To a sufficient decree; perfectly. I know not well how to execute this task.
8. Thoroughly; fully. Let the cloth be well cleansed. Let the steel be well polished. She looketh well to the ways of her household. – Prov. xxx.
9. Fully; adequately. We are well able to overcome it. – Numb. xiii.
10. Far; as, to be well advanced in life. As well as, together with; not less than; one as much as the other; as, a sickness long as well as severe. London is the largest city in Europe, as well as the principal banking city. Well enough, in a moderate degree; so as to give satisfaction or so as to require no alteration. Well is him, seems to be elliptical for well is to him. To be well of, to be in a good condition, especially as to property. Well is sometimes used elliptically for it is well, and as a expression of satisfaction with what has been said or done and sometimes it is merely expletive. Well, the work done. Well, let us go. Well, well, be it so. Well is prefixed to many words, expressing what is right, laudable, or not defective; as, well-affected; well-designed; well-directed; well-ordered; well-formed; well-meant; well-minded; well-seasoned; well-tasted.

WELL, n. [Sax. well, a spring or fountain; wellan, to well, to boil or bubble, to spring, to rise; D. wel, wellen, id.; G. quelle, a spring; quellen, to spring, to issue forth, to gush, to well, to swell; wallen, to swell In G. welle is a wave. On this word I suppose swell to be formed.]

1. A spring; a fountain; the issuing of water from the earth. Begin then, sisters of the sacred well. – Milton. [In this sense, obsolete.]
2. A pit or cylindrical hole, sunk perpendicularly into the earth to such a depth as to reach a supply of water, sad walled with stone to prevent the earth from caving in.
3. In ships, an apartment in the middle of a ship's hold, to inclose the pumps, from the bottom to the lower deck. – Mar. Dict.
4. In a fishing vessel, an apartment in the middle of the hold, made tight at the sides, but having holes perforated in the bottom to let in fresh water for the preservation of fish, while they are transported to market. – Mar. Dict.
5. In the military art, a hole or excavation in the earth, in mining, from which run branches or galleries. – Cyc.

WELL, v.i. [Sax. wellan.]

To spring; to issue forth, as water from the earth. [Little used.] – Spenser. Dryden.

WELL, v.t.

To pour forth. [Obs.] Spenser.

WELL-AC-COUT'ER-ED, a.

Fully furnished with arms or dress.

WELL'A-DAY, exclam.

Alas. [Johnson supposes to be a corruption of Welaway – which see.] – Shak. Gay.