wagon-lock 
draff, as being easily managed from the driver's seat, with- 
outstopping the Tehicle. See drmj, 1 (A). 
wagon-master (wag'on-mas'ter), «. A person 
who has charge of one or more wagons ; espe- 
cially, an officer in charge of wagons In a mili- 
tary train. 
wagon-roof (wag'on-rof), n. A plain semicy- 
lindrieal vault, or barrel-vault. £. A. Freeman, 
Venice, p. 93. 
wagon-roofed (wag'ou-roft), o. Having a semi- 
cylindrical or wagon-headed roof or vault. See 
wapoii-hefKlcd. 
wagonryt, waggonryt (wag'ou-ri), m. [< tcagon 
+ -ry: see -eiy.] Conveyance by means of wag- 
ons; wagons collectively ; wagonage. [Rare.] 
He that sets to his liaiid though with a good intent to 
hinderthe shogging of it, in tliis unlawfull tmygdnry wliere- 
in it rides, let him beware it be not fatall to him as it was 
to Uzza. Milton, Church-Government, i. 1. 
wagon-top (wag'on-top), H. The part of a lo- 
comotive-boiler, over the fire-box, which is ele- 
vated above the rest of the shell. Its pm'pose 
is to provide greater steam-room. 
wagon-train (wag'on-tran), 11. A train, ser- 
vice, or collection of wagons, draft-animals, 
etc., organized for a special purpose ; especial- 
ly, the collection of wagons, etc., accompanying 
an army, to convey provisions, ammunition, the 
sick and wounded, etc. 
wagon-tree (wag'on-tre), n. [< wagon + tree; 
tr. D. wiigen-booin.l A South African shrub, 
Protea grandifiora, growing 6 or 8 feet high, with 
the tnuik as many inches thick. Its wood is of a 
reddish-brown color, "beautifully marked with a cross or 
netted grain. It is sometimes used at the Cape of Good 
Hope for the fellies of wheels, plows, etc. 
wagon-vault (wag'on-valt), )(. A semieylin- 
drical vault, or barrel-vault. See vauW^ and 
bitrrel-rault. 
wagon-way (wag'on-wii), n. In coal-mining, 
an underground horse-road. [North. Eng.] 
wagonwright (wag'on-nt), «. [< wagon -f- 
wriglit. Cf. wainwrigUt.~\ A mechanic who 
makes wagons. 
wagpastiet, «■ [Appar. lit. 'a pie-stealer,' < 
wag^, v., + ohj. paslic, 2>a,isty, pie.] A rogue. 
A little wagpastie, 
A deceiuer of folkea by sul)tiU craft and guile. 
Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 2. 
wagshipt (wag'ship), ». l<way'^ + -s)np.'] 1. 
Waggery ; waggishness. 
Let 's pierce the rundlets of our rumiing heads, and give 
'em a neat cup of waff-^hip. 
Middleton, Family of Love, ii. 3. 
2. The state or dignity of being a wag. Mars- 
ton, Wliat you Will. iii. 3. [Humorous.] 
wagsome (wag'sum), a. [< ica(/2 -|- -some.^ 
Waggish. [Karo.] 
Still iiumoured he Iiis wafisome turn. 
W. S. Gilbert, Peter the Wag. 
wagtail (wag'tal),«. [<itw/l,r.,-l-obj.<ai7l.] 1. 
Any bird of the family Motacilliclse (which see) : 
so called from the continual wagging motion 
of the tail. The species are very numerous, and chiefly 
confined to the Old World. Those of the subfamily Anthi- 
nas are commonly called pipits or titlarkn. (See cut under 
Anthus.) (a) The white, black, gray, aiid pied wagtails be- 
long to the genus Motacilla, as M. alba and 3/. lugubris ur 
6802 
wail 
a bird so named by Latham in 1783 from a bird described 
by Sonnini in 1766 from Luzon : not well identified, but 
supposed to be the wagtail distril)uted over most of Asia, 
with a host of synonyms, from which if. leucopd-' is se- 
lected as the onym by late authority.— Common wagtail 
of England, the pied wagtail.— Field- Wagtail, a yellow 
wagtail.— Garden-wagtail, tlie Indian wagtail.- Gray- 
headed yellow wagtail, Budytes ciridw.— Gray wag- 
tall, Motacilla melanope, or Ijoartda, or sulphurea : more 
fully called ffray water-wagtail (after Edwards, 176»), and 
a.\so yellow u-ater-wagtailhy X\hm(17'A^i(t). — Green wag- 
tail, a bird so described by Brown in 1775, and since com- 
monly called Budytes viridis or B. oinereocapillus, ranging 
from Scandinavia to South Africa and the Malay countries. 
—Hudsonlanwagtail(of Latham, 1801), the common tit- 
lark of North America, A nihujt pemi^lvanicus or ludovi- 
cianus, originally described and figured by Edwards in 1760 
as the "lark from Pensilvania.'— Indian wagtail^ AVmo- 
ricola or Nemorivaga indica, now Lijnonidronius indictis, 
a true wagtail, but of a separate genus, wide-ranging in 
Asia and most of t ' 
continent. — Pied w a&u<ux, j" ».i*„.i.v.^ ^.^^ ,*», .««,»«,,.. v.., 
the commonest wagtail of Great Britain.— Tscnutscm 
wagtallt, the gray wagtail. Pennant, 178.-).— Wagtail 
fantail, wagtail flycatcher, a true flycatcher of Austra- 
lia, New Gumea, the Solomon Islands, etc., with fifteen 
dilf erent New Latin names, among wliich Bhipidura or 
Quaketail, or I led Wa^^all < Mot utii i j irtelli) 
yarrelli. (Sej Motacilla.) (b) The closely related genus 
Budytex comprises among others the common blue-headed 
yellow wagtail, U. Jlava, of very wide distribution in the 
Old World and found in Alaska. 
2. Some similar bird. In the United States the name 
is frequently given to two birds of the genus Seiurus, the 
common water-thrush and the large-billed water-thrush, 
S. neeciug and .S. m'AaciUa, meinbeis of the family Mniotil- 
tidfe, or Amei-ican warblei's. Sec cut under Seiuru-s. 
3t. A term of familiarity or contemi)t. 
Wagtail, salute them all ; they are friends. 
.Middleton, Michaelmas Tei-m, iii. 1. 
4. A i)ert person. 
Ohw. This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life 
I have spared at suit of his gray beard 
Kent. . . . Spare my gra\ beard, you Jrai/((/iT^ 
Sluiic, Lear, ii. 2. 73. 
African wagtail, Motacilla capensi» of South Africa.— 
Blue-headed yellow wagtail, the true Bmlytesjlaea.-- 
Cape v/agtail, the Afiii an wagtail. — Collared wagtail, 
bright-scarlet arils of its seeds. Its bark is the 
officinal euonymus, credited with cholagogic 
and laxative properties. — 2. The bearberry of 
the Pacific United States, Rhamnus I'ursliiana, 
the source of cascara sagrada, perhaps so called 
from its medicinal affinity to the former. — 3. 
Tlie winged elm, Vlmu.s ulatii, a small tree with 
corky winged branches, found southward in the 
United States. The wood is unwedgeable, and is large- 
ly used for hubs, blocks, etc. The name has also l>een ap- 
plied to Tilia heterophylla (see Tilia) and to the Japanese 
quince (which see, under quince^). 
Also written waahoo (this foi-m being some- 
times used distinctively in sense l)and wJiahoo. 
waidf, waidet. Obsolete spellings of the pret 
erit and past participle of weigh'^. 
but of a separate genus, wme-ranging m ™a,-f/„.5f\ „ awA n PFonnerlvalsoM-aJce (from 
of the islands zoologically related to that W*" ^^''''''"' 'I"""' L^* ormeriy aisotraife uiom 
[eAwSLStail,MotacmalugubrigoT yarrelli the plural), also waijt (see waive, «., waijt); < 
" ' ■ — ^--^--~.i MK. waif, weif, weife (Tp\. wayres, weyves),< OF. 
waif, wef, giteyf, gaif, fem. waire, gaive (pi. 
waives, gaires), a waif (clioses gaires, things lost 
and not claimed), < Icel. veif, anything waving 
or flapping about, reifan, a moving about un- 
certainly, rei/V(, vibrate, waver: see )c«(re.] I. 
n. 1. Anythingblownby the wind or drifted in 
by the ocean ; a thing tossed abroad and aban- 
doned; a stray or odd piece or article. 
Wei/es, things forsaken, miscarried, or lost. 
Cotgrane, 1611. 
Rolling in his mind 
Old M>at/» of rhyme. Tennyton, The Brooli. 
2. In law : (a) Goods found of which the owner 
is not known. 
Of wardes and of wardemotes, leayues and strayues. 
Pier* Plowman (C), 1. 92. 
(6) Such goods as a thief, when pursued, thro ws 
away to prevent being apprehended. 
Waifs . . . are goods stolen, and waved or thrown away 
by the thief in his flight, for fear of being apprehended. 
BlacksU/ne, Com., I. viii. 
3. A wanderer; one who is lost; a neglected, 
homeless wretch: applied also to beasts. 
Virtue and vice had bound'ries in old time ; . . . 
'Twas hard perhaps on here and there a wot/. 
Desirous to return, and not receiv'd. 
Cowper, Task, iii. 80. 
Oh a' ye pious, godly flocks, , . . 
Wha now will keep ye frae the fox, . . . 
Or wha will tent the vjaifs and crocks 
About the dykes ! Burns, The Twa Herds. 
4. Same as weft or waft. 
The officer who first discovers it [a whale] sets a «««(/'(« 
small flag) in his boat, and gives chase. 
C. 3/. Scaminon, Marine Mammals, p. 25. 
Masthead waif, a light pole, si\ or eight feet long, with 
a hoop covered with canvas at the end : used by whale- 
men in signaling boats. Compare waft, n,, 4. 
II. a. Vagabond; worthless; ignoble; in- 
ferior. Also traff. [Scotch.] 
And the Lord King forbids that any waif (i. e. vagabond) 
or unknown ("uncuth ") man 1)6 entertained anywhere ex- 
cept in a borough, and there only for one night, unless he 
or his horse be detained there by sickness so that an es- 
soign [valid excuse by reason of sickness or infirmity] can 
be shown. Laws of Hen. II., quoted in Ribtoii-Turner's 
[Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 26. 
And wuU and waif for eight lang years 
They sail'd upon the sea. 
Rusmer Uafmand (Child's BaUads, I. 253). 
waif-pole (waf'pol), «. The pole to which the 
masthead waif is made fast. 
waiftt, «. [Karly mod. E., < ME. weft; a var. 
of waif, with excrescent t: see waif] Same as 
waif. 
For that a leaift, the which by fortune came 
Upon your seas, he claym'd as propertie. 
Spenser, F. Q., IV. xii. 31. 
waiU (wal), f. [< ME. wailen, wailleii, weiien, 
wcylen, < Icel. rsela, rata, mod. vola, wail, < vte! 
vei! interj.,woe! see woe. Cf. bewail.] I. in- 
trans. To express sorrow by a mournful inar- 
ticulate vocal sound; lament; moan; cry plain- 
tively. 
I mot wepe and ireyte whyl I live. 
Chaucer, Knights Tale, 1. 437. 
Tlie melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year. 
Of waiting winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown 
and sere. Bryant, Death of the Flowers. 
II. trans. To grieve over ; lament; bemoan; 
bewail. 
Thou holy chirche, thou maist be wailed. 
Bom. of the Base, 1. 6271. 
Tell these sad women 
'Tis fond to aail inevitable strokes. 
As 'tis to laugh at them. Shak. , Cor. , i». 1. 26. 
Wagtail Flycatcher \.Rhipidnra tricolor'). 
Saulqprocta tricolor or motaciUoides is most used. It is 
7| inches long, and chiefly black and white in coloration, 
tlms resembling one of the pied wagtails. Also called 
black fantail— Wsdei wagtail See waler-wagtaiL— 
White wagtail, Motacilla alba, or another of this tyfje. 
— Wood- wagtail, the common giay wagtail : sometimes 
mistaken for something else, and put in a genus Calobates, 
as C. sulphurea. )fc6s(cr,1890.— Yellow wagtail, BiMiy(e» 
rayi, or anotlier of this type. 
wagtail (wag'tal), v. i. [< wagtail, «.] To flut- 
ter; move the wings and tail like a wagtail. 
[Bare.] 
A payr of busie chattering Pies, . . . 
From bush to bush wag-tayling here and there. 
Sylnester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Trophies. 
wagwant (wag'wont), n. Same as wag-wantoii. 
wag-wanton (wag'w6n-ton), n. The quaking- 
grass, Briza media. [Prov. Eng.] 
wag-wit (wag' wit), « . A wag ; a would-be wit. 
All the wagtcitx in the highway are grinning in applause 
of the ingenious rogue. Steele, Spectator, No. 354. 
wah (w-a), n. [Native name.] The panda, JElu- 
riis fulgcns, of the Himalayan region. See cut 
under panda. 
Wahabi, Wahabee (wa-ha'be), ». [< Ar. 
irahhabi,< llaltJiabisee det.).] Oneofthefol- 
lowers of Abd-el-Wahhab (1G91-1787), a Mo- 
liammedan reformer, who opposed all practices 
not sanctioned by the Koran. His successors formed 
a powerful dominion, whose chief seat was in Nejd in cen- 
tral Arabia. They were overthrown by Ibrahim Pasha in 
1818, but afterward regained much of their former power 
in central Arabia. Also Wahabite. 
A sect of Muhammadan puritans, known as Wahabis, 
who affect a strict and ascetic way of life, such as pre- 
vailed in the time of the Prophet, and denounce all com- 
mentaries on the Koran, and all such modern innovations 
as the worship of relics. 
J. T. Wheeler, Short Hist. India, p. 668. 
Wahabiism (wa-hil'be-izm), n. [< Wahabi + 
-ism.] The doctrines, principles, or practices 
of tlie Wahabis. JV. G. rah/rare. 
Wahabite (wa-hil'bit), n. [< Wahabi + -ite"^.] 
Same as Waludn. Laboulayc. 
wahahe (wa-hii'ha), n. [Maori.] A tree. Di- 
soxijlnm (Bartighsea) spectabile, found in New 
Zealand, it has a height of 40 or, W feet, and bears pani- 
cles of pale-coloivd flowers from 8 to 12 inches long, pendU' 
Ions from the trunk and main branches. Its leaves are wail^ (wal), H. [< !Cfl(71, r.] The act of lament- 
said to be used by the natives like liops, and an infusion of 
thein as a stomachic. Also kohe. 
Waha Lake trout. See tronf^. 
wahoo (wa-ho'), n. [Amer. Ind.] 1. A North 
Aincrican filivub, the burning-bush, Euonymus 
atropuriinreii.'i, ornamental in autumn for its 
pendulous capsules, revealing in dehiscence the 
ing aloud; wailing; a moan; a plaintive cry or 
sound. 
From its rocky caverns the deep-voiced neighlioring ocean 
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the leni'i of 
the forest. Longfellow. Evangeline, ii. 5. 
Tlie dead, whose dying e.ves 
Were closed with wail. Tennyson, In Memoriam, Jtc. 
