wadding 
articles of dress, the surface of the spongy web 
of carded material being covered with tissue- 
paper or with a coat of size. 
The seat, with plenteous wadding stuff' li. 
Conyer, Task, i. 31. 
Aristoteles, and all tlie rest of you, must have the wad- 
ding of straw and saw-dust shaken out, and then we shall 
know pretty nearly your real weight and magnitude. 
Landor, Iniag. Conv., Diogenes and Plato. 
2. Jfaterial for gun-wads. 
wadding-sizer (wod'ing-si"zer), n. A machine 
for applying a coating of size to the surface 
of a bat of cotton, to make wadding. E. H. 
Kiiiqht. 
waddlel (wod'l),i'. ; pret. and pp. )(o*?to/, ppr. 
iriiddliiif/. [A dim. and freq. of wnde.'i I. iij- 
traiis. To sway or rock from side to side in 
walking ; move with short, quick steps, throw- 
ing the body from one side to tlie other ; walk 
in a tottering or vacillating manner ; toddle. 
Then she could stand alone ; nay, by the rood, 
She could have run and icaddled all about. 
Shak., E. and J., i. 3. 37. 
Every member waddled Iiomc as fast as bis short legs 
could cany him, wlieezing as lie went with corpulency 
and terror. Irving, Knickerboclcer, p. 437. 
=S3m. Waddle, Toddle. Waddling is a kind of ungainly 
walking produced liy the great weight or natural clumsi- 
ness of the walker ; toddling is the movement of a child 
in learning to walk. 
II. truHs. To tread down by wading or wad- 
dling through, as high grass. [Rare.] 
They tread and waddle all the goodly grass. 
Drayton, Moon-Calf. 
waddle^ (wod'l), n. [< tcmWe^, v.'] The act 
of walking with a swaying or rocking motion 
from side to side ; a clumsy, rocking gait, with 
short steps; a toddle. 
waddle^ (wod'l), n. and v. A dialectal form of 
ica ttk. 
waddle^ (wod'l), «. [Perhaps a perverted form 
of "waiDiel, < wtinc^, v.] The wane of the moon. 
HaUiweJl. [Prov. Eng.] 
waddler(wod'ler),H. [i waddle^ +-er'^.'\ One 
who or that which waddles. 
waddling (wod 'ling), n. [Verbal n. of wndd/e^.] 
A wattled fence. [Prov. Eng.] 
To arbor begim and quicksetted about. 
No poling nor wadling till set be far out. 
Tusser, Husbandrie, p. 83. (Davie».) 
waddlingly (wod'ling-li), adv. With a wad- 
dling gait. 
waddy (wad'i), h. ; pi. waddies (-iz). [Aus- 
tralian.] 1. A war-club of heavy wood, grooved 
in such a way that the edges of the grooves 
serve as cutting edges to increase the efficacy 
of the blow : used by the Australian aborigines. 
Also loaddie. 
In battle, a blow from a waddi/ lays low a companion. 
//. SpeiKer, Prin. of Socio!., § 78. 
Hence — 2. A walking-stick. [Australia.] 
wade (wad), r. ; pret. and pp. waded, ppr. wading. 
[< ME. waden (pret. waded, earlier wod, pp. 
"wadeii). < AS. icadan (pret. wud, pi. wodon, 
pp. waden), go, move, advance, trudge, also 
wade, = OFries. wada = D. waden = OHG. 
watan, MHG. waten, G. waten, wade, ford, = 
leel. vadlui = Dan. vade = Sw. ruda, wade, = 
L. radere, go. Hence ult. waddle^. From the 
L. jY/rfere come E. evade, invade, pervade, etc.] 
I. ill trans. 1. To walk through any substance 
that impedes the free motion of the limbs; 
move by stepping through a fluid or other semi- 
resisting medium: as, to jcarfe through water; 
to ivnde through sand or snow. 
She waded through the dirt to pluck him off me. 
Shak., T. of the S., iv. 1. 80. 
2t. To enter in; penetrate. 
Whan myght is joyned unto crueltee. 
Alias, to depe wol the venym wade. 
Chaucer, Monk's Tale, 1. 604. 
3. To move or pass with difficulty or labor, real 
or apparent ; make way against hindrances or 
embarrassments, as depth, obscurity, or resis- 
tance, material or mental. 
Of this and that they playde and gonnen wade 
In many an unkouth, glad, and deepe matere. 
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 150. 
Dangerous it were for the feeble brain of man to wade 
far into the doings of the Most High. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, i. 2. 
I lament what he [Mr. Fox] must wade through to rial 
power, if ever be should arrive there. 
Walpole, Lettcis, II. 494. 
Wading birds, the waders ; (irallte or Graltatoreg. 
II, trans. To pass or cros^ by wading; ford: 
as, to ivadc a stream. 
Theti the three fJods waded the river, 
WilUant Morrix, Sigurd, li. 
6798 
wade (wad), n. [< wade, v.; in def. 2 = wadde 
= Icel. vad, a ford.] 1. The act of wading: as, 
a xvade in a brook. — 2. A place where wading 
is done; a ford. [Colloq.] 
It was a wade of fully a mile, and every now and then 
the water just touched the ponies' bellies. 
The Field, April 4, 1885. (Encye. Diet.) 
3. A road. See the quotation. 
The word wade, properly a ford, is used here to signify 
a road, and not merely the crossing of water. It is, I be- 
lieve, extinct as a noun, though it survives as a verb. 
A. II. A. Hamilton, Quarter Sessions, p. 271. 
wader (wa'der), n. [< wade + -erl.] 1. One 
who or that which wades. 
I saw where James 
Made toward us, like a wader in the surf. 
Beyond the brook, waist-deep in meadow-sweet. 
Tennyson, The Brook. 
2. In ornith., any bird belonging to the old 
order Grallse or Grallatores, comprising a great 
number of long-legged wading birds, as dis- 
tinguished from those water-birds which have 
short legs and webbed feet and habitually swim. 
The order has been broken up, or much modified ; but 
wader is conveniently applied to such birds as cranes, her- 
ons, storks, ibises, plovers, snipes, sandpipers, and rails. 
3. High water-proof boots worn by fishermen 
or sportsmen in general for wading through 
water. 
An ardent votary of fly and bank-fishing, with waderg 
and a two-handed rod. 
Fortnightly Rev., N. 9., XLIII. 832. 
wadge (waj), V. A dialectal form of wage. 
HalUweV. 
wad-hook (wod'huk), n. A ramrod fitted with 
a wormer, for extracting wads from a gun ; also, 
the wormer of such a rod. 
Wadhnrst clay. In Eng. geol, a division of 
the Wealden. 
wadi, wady (wod'i), n. [< Ar. wadi, a ravine, 
hence, a river-channel, river. This word ap- 
pears in several Spanish river-names — namely, 
Guadalquivir (Wadi-'l-kebir, 'the great river'), 
GuadaJaxara, Guadalupe, Guadiana, etc.] The 
channel of a watercourse which is dry except 
in the rainy season ; a watercourse ; a stream : 
a term used chiefly in the topography of certain 
Eastern countries. 
The real loady is, generally speaking, a rocky valley, 
bisected by the ijed of a mountain torrent, dry during the 
hot season. R. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 100. 
wadmalf (wod'mal), n. [Also wadnioll, wad- 
molle, and irreg. wadmeal, woadmel, and (repre- 
senting Icel.) wadmaal; < Icel. radhnidl (= 
Dan. vadmel = Sw. vadmal), a woolen stuff, < 
*vadhr, cloth (see wad^), + nidi, a measure.] 
A thick woolen cloth. 
Yron, Wool], Wadmelle, Gotefell, Ridfell .also. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 188. 
Woadmel. A coarse hairy stuff, made of Iceland wool, 
and brought from thence by our seamen to Norfolk and 
Suffolk. Grose, Prov. Gloss. 
Her upper garment . . . was of a coarse dark-colored 
stuff called wadmaal, then [early in the eighteenth cen- 
tury] much used in the Zetland islands. Scott, Pirate, v. 
wadmiltilt (wod 'mil -tilt), n. [< *u'admil, 
tvadmal, + tilt'^.'] A strong rough woolen cloth 
employed to cover powder-barrels and to pro- 
tect ammunition. 
wadna (wod'na). A Scotch form (properly 
two words) of would no — that is, would not. 
wad-punch (wod'punch), «. A kind of wad- 
cutter. 
wadset (wod'set), n. [Also wadsett; < m!«(J2 
-I- se<l, stake.] In Scots law, a mortgage, or 
bond and disposition in security. 
And the rental book, Jeanie — clear three hunder ster- 
ling — deil a wadset, heritable band, or burden. 
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxvi. 
wadset'ter (wod'set-er), n. [< wadset + -erl.] 
In Scots law, one who holds by a wadset; a 
mortgagee. 
wady, n. See wadi. 
wae'(wa), n. and a. [An obs. ordial. (Sc.) form 
of icoe.] I. n. Woe. 
My sheep beene wasted {woe is me therefore I). 
Speriser, Shep. Cal., September. 
He aft has wrought me meikle woe. 
Bums, Oh lay thy loot in mine. 
II. '(. Woeful; sorrowful. 
And wae and sad fair Annie sat. 
And drearie was her sang. 
Fair Annie (Child's Ballads, III. 196). 
That year I was the waest man 
O' ony man alive. 
Burns, Election Ballads, 
wae^t, II. Same as waw^. 
waeful (wa'fiil), a. A dialectal (Scotch) form 
of woeful. 
wafer-cake 
With leacfo wae I hear zour plaint. 
Oil Morrice (Child's Ballads, II. 38). 
waeness (wa'nes), «. l<wae'^ + -wes».] Sad- 
ness. [Scotch.] 
A feeling of thankfulness, of waeness and great glad- 
ness. Carlyle, in Froude, Life in London, iv. 
waesome (wa'sum), adv. A dialectal (Scotch) 
form of woesonie. 
She kend her lot would be a woesome ane, but it was of 
her own framing, sac she desired the less pity. 
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xliv. 
waesucks, interj. [< tcael -I- *sucks, perhaps a 
vague variation of .^akes as used in exclama- 
tion.] Alas! [Scotch.] 
Waesucks .' for him that gets nae laas. 
Bums, Holy Fair, 
waf 1, a. See waff"^. 
waf ^t. An obsolete preterit of weave^. 
wafer (wa'fer), 11. [< ME. wafre, wafoure ■= 
OF. waufre, gaufre, goffre (ML. guafra), F. 
gaufre (Walloon wafe, waufe), < MD. waefel, 
D. wafel (> E. waffle) = LG. wafel = G. wdbe, a 
honeycomb, cake of wax; of. Dan. vaffel = Sw. 
fdj^a, wafer (< LG.?): nee waffle, a,nA ct. gauffer, 
goffer, and gopher, from the mod. F.] A thin 
cake or leaf of paste, generally disk-shaped. 
.Specifically — (at) A cake, apparently corresponding to 
the modern waffle, and, like it, served hot 
For ar [ere] I haue bred of raele, ofte mote I swete. 
And ar the comune haue come ynough, many a colde 
momynge ; 
So, ar my wa/res ben ywronjt, moche wo I tholye. 
J'iers Plowman (B), xiii. 263. 
Wa/res pipyng hot out of the gleede [fire]. 
Chaucer, .Miller's Tale, 
193. 
(&) A small and delicate cake or biscuit, usually sweetened, 
variously flavored, and sometimes rolled up. 
Thy lips, with age, as any wafer thin. 
Drayton, Idea, viii. 
She should say grace to every bit of meat. 
And gape no wider than a wafer's thickness. 
B. Jonsoti, Case is Altered, ii. 3. 
(c) A thin circular disk of unleavened bread used in the 
celebration of the eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church 
and in many Anglican churches. The wafer derives its 
form from the fact that the bread of the Jews was ordi- 
narily in this shape ; and both the ancient pictured repre- 
sentations and the references in the early patristic litera- 
ture confirm the opinion that this was the form in use in 
the church from the apostolic days. Wafers are usually 
stamped with the form of a cross, cniciflx, or Agnus Dei, 
with the initials I. H. S., or sometimes with a monogram 
representing the name of Christ. See altar-bread, and 
oblate, n., 2. 
The usuall bread and wafer, hitherto named singing 
cakes, which served for the use of the private Masse. 
Abp. Parker, Injunctions (1559), quoted in >'. andQ.. 7th 
[ser., V. 211. 
(d) A thin disk of dried paste, used for sealing letters, 
fastening documents together, and similar purposes, usu- 
ally made of flour mixed with water, gum, and some non- 
poisonous coloring matter. Fancy transparent wafers are 
made of gelatin and isinglass in a variety of forms. 
Perhaps the folds [of a letter] were lovingly connected 
by a wafer, pricked with a pin, and the direction writt«n 
in a vile scrawl, and not a word spelt as it sliould be. 
Colinan, Jealous Wife, i 
(e) In artillery, a kind of primer. See primer^. 
Fortunately, the wafers by which the guns are dis- 
charged had l>een removed from the vents. 
Preble, Hist. Flag, p. 471. 
(/) In med., a thin circular sheet of diy paste used to fa- 
cilitate the swallowing of powders. I'he sheet is moist- 
ened, and folded over the powder placed in its center. 
Sometimes wafers have the form of two watchglass-shaped 
disks of pasty material, which are made to adhere by 
moistening their edges, the powder being placed in tlie 
hollow between the two.— Medallion wafer, a wafer 
bearing some design on a ground of a different color. 
wafer (wa'fer), c t. [< wafer, h.] 1. To at- 
tach by means of a wafer or wafers. 
This little bill is to be icafered on the shop-door. 
Dickens, Pickwick, L 
2. To seal or close by means of a wafer. 
He . . . wafered his letter, and rushed with it to the 
neighboring post-office. Airs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xix. 
wafer-ash (wa'f er-ash), H . The hop-tree, Ptelea 
irifoliat/i: so called from its ash-Uke leaves and 
flat key-fruit suggesting a wafer. The bark of 
the root is considej-ably used as a tonic. See 
hop-tree. 
wafer-bread (wa'fer-bred), n. Altar-bread 
made in the foi-m of a water or wafers. 
To communicate kneeling ii. trafer-bread. 
Abp. Parker, To Sir W. Cecil, April 30, 1565, in Correa. 
(Abp. Parker (Parker Soc.), p. 240. 
wafer-cake (wa'fer-kak), H. It. Same as wa- 
fer (a). 
Oaths are straws, men's faiths are wa.fer-cctkes. 
Shak., Hen. V., ii. 3. .53. 
2. Same as wafer (<■). 
The Pope's Merchants also chaffered here [Lombard 
Street) for their Commodities, and had good markets for 
then- Wfifer Cakes, sanctifled at Kome, their Pardons, *c. 
Stotr, cpioted in F. Martin's Hist. Lloyds, p. SO. 
