W © JR. 
W R B 
1 may tie carried coastwise upon being duly en- 
tered, and security being given according to 
the directions of the statute, to the officer of 
the port whence the same shall be conveyed ; 
and the owners of sheep within five miles of 
the sea, and ten miles in Kent and Sussex, 
cannot remove the wool,- without giving no- 
tice to the officer of the nearest port, as di- 
rected by the statute. 
Woollen Cloth, interment in. By 30 
G. II. c. 3. (an act which is required to be gi- 
ven in charge at the assizes and sessions, and 
to be read four times publicly each year in the 
S church by every parson), no corpse of any 
person (except of those who die of the plague) 
shall be buried in any shirt, shift, sheet, or 
shroud, or any thing made or mingled with 
iiax, hemp, silk, hair, gold, or silver, or in 
any stuff or thing not made of sheep’s wool 
only ; or be put into any coffin lined or faced 
with any sort of clothier-stuff, or any other 
thing, made of any other material than sheep’s 
wool only, under penalty of 51. to be recover- 
ed by distress and sale of the goods and chat- 
tels of the party deceased. 
Wool-combers,' By 35 G. III. c. 124, 
all those who have served an apprenticeship 
to the trade of a wool-comber, or who are by 
law entitled to exercise the same, and also 
their wives and children, may set up and ex- 
ercise such trade, or any other trade or busi- 
ness they are apt and able for, in any town or 
place within this kingdom, without any mo- 
lestation ; nor shall they be removeable from 
such place by the poor laws. 
WORD, in a military sense, signifies sig- 
nal, token, order ; as watch-word, &c. 
The Word, ) is a peculiar word that 
Watch Word, $ serves for a token and 
mark of distinction, given out in the orders of 
the day in times of peace, but in war every 
evening in the field, by the general who com- 
mands, and in garrison by the governor, or 
other officer commanding in chief, to prevent 
surprise, and hinder an enemy, or any trea- 
cherous person, from passing backwards and 
forwards. This watch-word is generally 
called the parole, and to it is added the coun- 
tersign. The first is known to all officers and 
non-commissioned officers, the latter only to 
the sentinels. The officers that go the rounds, 
or patroles, exchange the word with the offi- 
cers on duty ; nor must the sentinels let any 
one pass who has not got the countersign. 
Words of command, certain terms which 
have been adopted for the exercise and move- 
ment of military bodies, according to the na- 
ture of each particular service. Words of 
command are classed under two principal 
heads, and consist of those which are given by 
the chief or commander of a brigade, batta- 
lion, or division, and of those which are utter- 
ed by the subordinate leaders of troops, &c. 
WORD, in language, an articulate sound, re- 
presenting some idea or conception of the mind. 
The copiousness of the English language is 
proved by the following enumeration of the 
words in Johnson’s Dictionary: 
Articles - 8 
Nouns substantive - 20409 
Adjectives — 9053 
Pronouns - - - 41 
f active 
neuter 
5445 
2425 
1 
. ! passive 
v erbs i defective (or imperfect) 5 
1 
auxiliary 
impersonal 
V 
7880 
1 
38 
125 
3 
4967 <»592 
2096 y 
69 
19 
68 
- 40301 
It must be remarked, however, that in this 
list many of the compound words are not 
reckoned ; that the participles are those only 
having no verbs to which they may be referred, 
as beloved ; that though so few verbal and par- 
ticipial nouns are stated by Johnson, yet every 
active verb may supply one of the former de- 
scription, and every verb one of the latter ; and 
that both these (verbal and participial nouns) 
seem to be merely different applications of a 
true gerund. 
WORDS, which may be taken or inter- 
preted by law in a general or common sense, 
ought not to receive a strained or unusual 
construction : and amtdguous words are to be 
construed so as to make them stand with law 
and equity, and not to be wrested to do wrong. 
2 Lill. 711. See lGVin.Abr. 
Words, Defamatory, are in some 
cases indictable, as calling a justice of the 
peace a rogue ; and in others actionable, as 
to say such an attorney is a rogue. 
WORKING IN HARVEST. A person 
may go abroad to work in harvest, carrying 
with him a certificate from the minister, and 
one churchwarden or overseer, that he has a 
dwelling-house or place, in which he inha- 
bits, and has left wife and children, or some 
of them, there (or otherwise as his condition 
shall require), and declaring him an inhabi- 
tant there. A person carrying such certifi- 
cate with him, shall not be apprehended un- 
der the stat. 1 7 G. II. c. 5. commonly called 
the vagrant act. 
WORMS. See Vermes, and Medi- 
cine. 
WORMWOOD. See Artemisia. 
WOUND. See Surgery. 
WRECK, such goods as after a shipwreck 
are cast upon the land by the sea, and left 
there within some county, for they are not 
wrecks so long as they remain at sea, being 
within the jurisdiction of the admiralty. 
Various statutes have been made relative to 
wreck, which was formerly a perquisite be- 
longing to the king, or by special grant to the 
lord of the manor ; it is now, however, held, 
that if proof can be made of the property of 
any of the goods or lading which come to 
shore, they shall not be forfeited as wreck. 
By the 3 Ed. c. 4, the sheriff of the county 
shall be bound to keep the goods a year and a 
day; that if any man can prove a property in 
them, either in his own right, or by right of 
representation, they shall be restored to him 
without delay. 
Verbal noun 
Participles - 
***** isr* : 
Adverbs - 
— — - in ly 
Prepositions - 
Conjunctions - 
Interjections - 
Total 
By stat. 26. G. II. c. 19, plundering any 
vessel either in distress or wreck, and whether 
any living creature is on board or not, or pre- 
venting the escape of any person that endea- 
vours to save his life, or putting out false lights 
to bring any vessel into danger, are all de- 
clared to be capital felonies; and by this sta- 
5 Z 2 
W U. It 91* 
tute, pilfering any goods cast ashore is de- 
clared to be petty larceny. 
WREN. See Motacilla. 
WRIST. See Anatomy. 
WRIT, is the king’s precept, by which 
any thing is commanded touching a suit or ac- 
tion; as the defendant or tenant to be sum- 
moned, a distress to be taken, a disseisin to 
be redressed, &c. And these writs are di- 
versly divided; some in respect of their or- 
der, or manner of granting, are termed ori- 
ginal, and some judicial. 
Original writs, are those that are sent out 
for the summoning of the defendant in a. 
personal, or the tenant in a real action, be- 
fore the suit begins, or rather to begin the 
suit. 
The judicial writs are those which are 
sent out by order of the court where the 
cause depends, upon occasion after the suit 
is begun. 
Original writs are issued out in the court of 
chancery, for the summoning a defendant to 
appear, aud are granted before the suit is be- 
gun, to begin the same: and judicial writs 
issue out of the court where the original is re- 
turned, after the suit began. The original 
bear date in the name of the king ; but the 
judicial writs bear teste in the name of the 
chief justice. 
Writ of Assistance, issues out of the 
exchequer, to authorize any person to take a 
constable, or other public officer, to seize 
goods or merchandize prohibited and uncus- 
tomed. 
It is also a writ issuing out of the chance- 
ry to give a possession. 
Writ of Inquiry of Damages, a judi- 
cial writ that issues out to the sheriff, upon a 
judgment by default, in action of the case, 
covenant, trespass, trover, 8rc. commanding 
him to summon a jury to inquire what da- 
mages the plaintiff has sustained occasion^ 
prsemissiorum ; and when this is returned with 
the inquisition, the rule for judgment is given 
upon it: and if nothing is said to the con- 
trary, judgment is thereupon entered. 2 Lill. 
Abr. 721. 
A writ of inquiry of damages, is a mere ia- 
quest of office, to inform the conscience of 
the court ; who, if they plCase, may themselves 
assess the damages. And it is accordingly 
the practice, in actions upon promissory notes 
and bills of exchange, instead of executing a 
writ of inquiry, to apply to the court for a 
rule to shew cause, why it should not be re- 
ferred to the master to see what is due, &x\ 
which rule is made absolute unless good 
cause is shewn to the. contrary. 
WRITER of the tallies, an officer of the 
exchequer, being clerk to the auditor of the 
receipt, who writes upon the tallies, the whole 
letters of the teller's bill. 
WULFERRIA, a genus of plants of the 
class and order dhtndria monogynia. The 
corolla is tubular, ringent, with the upper lip 
short: calyx five-parted; capsules two-ceil- 
ed, four-valved. There is one species, a 
herb of Carinth/a. 
WURMBEA, a genus of plants of the 
class and order hexandria tr.gynia. The 
corolla is six-parted, with an hexangular tube ; 
filaments inserted into the throat. T here 
are three species, herbs of the Cape. * 
