wail 
wail2, i: t. See wah^, 
wailerl (wa'ler), «. [< wain + -eel.] One who 
wails or laments ; a professional mourner. 
wailer^ (wa'ler), n. [< !crt(72, aiafe^, + -crl.] 
In coal-mini iig, a boy who picks out from the 
coal in the ears the bits of slate and any other 
rubbish which may have got mixed with it. 
[North. Eng.] 
waileresst (wa'Ier-es), w. [ME. weileresse; < 
wailer^ + -ess. ] A woman who wails or mourns : 
used in the quotation with reference to profes- 
sional mourners. 
Beholde 3e, and clepe je wymmen that weilen [var. 
weiUrettu, wailsUrit, tr. L. Imnentatricea]. 
Wyclif, Jer. Ix. 17. 
wailful (wal'ful), «. [< wain + -/«/.] 1. Sor- 
rowful; mournful; making a plaintive sound. 
Thus did she watch, and weare the weary night 
In wayl/tdt plaints that none was to appease. 
Speiiaer, F. Q., V. vl. 26. 
While thro' the braes the cushat croods 
With waHfu' cry ! Burnt, To W. Simpson. 
2t. Lamentable ; worthy of wailing. 
Bloody hands, whose cruelty . . . frame 
The imU/ul works that scourge the poor, without regard 
of blame. Surrey, Ps. Ixiiii. 
wailing (wa'ling), M. [< ME. wayhjtiy ; verbal 
n. of ir«i7', r.] The act of expressing sorrow, 
grief, or the like audibly ; loud cries of soitow ; 
deep lamentation. 
Myche weping & wo, waylyng of teris. 
And lamentacioun full long for lone of hym one. 
Dettructiun o/ Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7155. 
There shall be wailiryj and gnashing of teeth. 
Mat. xiii. 42. 
wailingly (wa'ling-li), adc. [< wailing + -///'-.] 
In a wailing manner; with wailing. 
Shrilly, wailingly sounded a cry of mortal agonv. 
The Century, XXIX. 80. 
wailmentt (wal-ment), K. [< waill- -I- -mcnt.'] 
Liamentation. 
O day of waitment to all that are yet unborn ! 
Bp. Uacket, Abp. Williams, ii. 224. (Latham.) 
wailstert (wal'st^r), «. [ME., < wain + -stcr.'^ 
Same as waileress. Wyclif, Jer. ix. (in MS. I.). 
waimentt, wajrmentt (wi-menf), v. i. [< ME. 
waymenten, weynienten, < OF. waimenter, wey- 
menter, giiai men ter, gamanter, etc., lament; per- 
haps a variation, in imitation of OF. wai, giiai 
(8p. Pg. It. guai = Goth, icai, woe : see if «f , and 
cf. wain), of lamenter, < L. lameiitari, lament: 
see ?o»ie»(.] To lament; sorrow; wail. 
"Sir," seide Agrarain, "ne iceymente ye not so, ffor yef 
god will he ne hath noon hamie. " 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 613. 
Thillte science, as seitli Seint Augustin, maketh a man 
to urayinenten in his herte. Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
waimentationt (wa-men-ta'shon), H. [< ME. 
wtiyiiifiiUicion, wamentticioux, < OF. 'wainien- 
tacion, < waimenter, lament: see waimenl.'] 
Lamentation. 
Made swiche wamenlaeiottn 
That pite was to heare the soun. 
The lite oj Ladiet, 1. 1855. 
waimentingt, waymentlngt, n. [ME., verbal 
u. of icai;«e«<, r.] Lamentation; bewailing. 
The sacred teres, and the icaymentiwt. 
The flry strokes of the ilesiring 
That loves servaunts in this lyf enduren. 
Cliaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1063. 
Wain^ (wan), «. [< ME. train, wuyn, iccin (pi. 
waines, weines), < AS. wsegcn, tcmjn, wxn = OS. 
wagan = OFries. xonin, wein = D. waqen = MLG. 
wagen = OHG. MHO. G. wagen = Icel. vagn = 
Sw. vagn = Dan. vngn, a wain, wagon, vehicle; 
< AS. wegan, etc., carry, = L. rchere, carry: see 
weigh. From the same ult. root are L. rehicn- 
lum (> E. vehicle), Or. bxor = Skt. raha, a vehi- 
cle, car. Cf. wagon, a doublet of icoiwl.] 1. A 
four-wheeled vehicle for the transportation of 
goods, or for carrying com, hay, etc. ; a wagon 
or cart. [Obsolete, provincial", or archaic] 
And the Women . . . dryven Cartes, Plowes, and Waynm, 
and Chariottes. Manderille, Travels, p. 250. 
The war-horse drew the peasant's loaded iiain. 
Bryant, Christmas in IS'.'i. 
The shynynge Juge of thinges, stable in hyniself, gov- 
erneth the swifte cart or wayn — that is to siyn, the circu- 
ler moevynge of the Sonne. 
Chatteer, Boethius, iv, meter I. 
2. Same as Charleys Wain. 
My bankrupt wain can beg nor borrow light ; 
Alas ! my darkness is perpetual night. 
Quarter, Emblems, ill. 1. 
Arthur's Wain. Same as Charlea't Wain. 
Arthur'^ slow train his course doth roll 
In utter darkness round the pole. 
SrotI, I., of I. .\I., i. 17. 
Cbarles's Wain, in anlnm., the sevin brightest stars in 
the constellation Ursa Major, or the Great liear, « iiich has 
6803 
been called a wagnu since the time of Homer. Two of the 
stars are known as the pointers, because, being nearly in a 
right line with the pole-star, they direct an oliserver to 
it Also called the I'luic, the Oreat Dipper, the Xurthern 
Car, and some times the Butchers Cleaver. [The name 
Charles's wain, Charles' wain is a modern alteration of ear- 
lier carl's wain, < late ME. charlewayn, charelwai/n, < late 
AS. carles wirn{= Sw. karl-myn = Dan. karls-vogn), the 
carl's or churl's wain, i. e. the farmer's wagon. The word 
wain came to be associated with the name Charles with ref. 
to Charlemagne, beijig also called in ME. Charlemaynes 
wayne. In the ITth century it was associated with tlie 
names of Charles I. and Charles II.] 
An it be not fonr by the day, 1 11 be hanged : Charles' 
wain is over the new chimney. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 1. 2. 
The Lesser. Wain, Ursa Minor. 
When the lesser wain 
Is twisting round the polar star. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, ci. 
wain^ (wan), V. t. [Perhaps < Icel. regno, go 
on one's way, proceed: see wayi. Cf. waiin, 
from the same ult. source. The ME. "wayneii," 
move, etc., found in various texts, is a mis- 
reading of wayuen, i. e. wayven : see wairc.'] 
To carry ; convey ; fetch. 
Then, neighbours, for God's sake, if any you see 
Good sernant for dairie house, waine her to mee. 
Tiisser, Hnsbandrie, p. 107. (Da vies.) 
So swift they icained her through the light, 
'Twas like the motion of sound or sight. 
f^osy, Kilmeny. 
wain^t, n. A Middle English form of yain^. 
wainablet (wii'na-bl), a. [< tcain^, = qain^, + 
-dhh:'] Capable of being tilled; tillable: as, 
icdiiiabic land. 
Wainage (wa'naj), «. A variant of gainage. 
The stock of the merchant and the wainage of the villein 
are preserved from undue severity of amercement as well 
as the settled estate of the earldom or barony. 
Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 155. 
wain-botet (wan'bot), )i. {< wain^ + bote^.] An 
allowance of timber for wagons or carts. 
wain-house (wan'hous), n. A house or shed 
for wagons and carts. [Pro v. Eng.] 
After supper they adjourned to the wain-hmtse, where 
the master pledged the first ox with a customary toast. 
C. Klton, Origins of Eng. Hist, p. 40S. 
wain-load (wan'lod), n. A wagon-load. 
Then you shall returne. 
And o( your I)e8t prouision sende to vs 
I'hlrty waine-lowl, beside twelue tun of wine. 
Ileyieood, 2 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, I. 104). 
wainmant (wan'man), >!.; pi. «■«»«»)<;» (-men). 
1. A driver of a wain or wagon ; a wagoner. 
Fuller, Ch. Hist., XI. i. 64. (Davies.)—2. A 
charioteer; specifically [_cap.'], the constellation 
Auriga. Sylrcster, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 4. 
wain-rope (wan'rop), n. A rope for pulling a 
wain or binding a load on a wain or wagon; a 
cart-rope. [Kare.] 
Oxen and wainropes cannot hale them together. 
Shak., T. N., iii. 2. 64. 
wainscot (wan'skot), n. [Early mod. E. also 
waiiiscott, waynskot, waynskoie (also, as mere 
D., tc(ighensciit); < D. tcagenschot (= LG. im- 
gensehot), the best kind of oak-wood, well 
grained and without knots (cf. LG. bokeiischut, 
the best kind of beech-wood, without knots), 
< wagen, wagon, wain, chariot, carriage, + 
schot (= E. sh)>n), partition, wainscot. The 
orig. sense was prob. 'wood used for a board 
or partition in a coach or wagon'; thence 
'boards for panel-work, paneling for walls, 
esp. oak-wood for paneling.'] It. A fine kind 
of foreign oak-timber, not so liable to cast or 
warp as English oak, easily worked with tools, 
and used at first for any kind of paneled work, 
and afterward in other ways. 
A tabyll of wuynskott with to trestellis. 
Bury Wills (ed. Tymms), p. 115. 
He was not tall, but of the lowest stature, round faced, 
olivaster (like wainscott) complexion. 
Aubrey, Lives (William Harvey). 
2. A wooden lining or boarding of the walls of 
apartments, usually made in panels; paneled 
boards on the walls of rooms. Originally this 
lining or paneling was made of wainscot-oak. 
With their fair wainscots. 
Their presses and bedsteads. 
Their joint-stools and tables, 
A fire we made. 
Winning of Cales (ChWi's Ballads, VII. 128). 
Boords called Waghenscot. Hakiuyt's Voyages, I. 173. 
The reader prayed that men of his coat might grow up 
like cedars to make good I'-ai'/JKCOi in the House of Sincer- 
ity. Middleton, Family f>f Love, iii. 3. 
We sat down to dinner in a fine long room, the wairt- 
scot of which is rich « ith gilded coronets, roses, and port- 
cullises. Macaulay, in Trevelyan, I. 191. 
3. One of certain noctui<l moths : an English 
collectors' name. I'he American wainscot Is Leucania 
extranfa: the scarce wainscot isSiiiiyra vcnosa. — Smoky 
wainscot. See smoky. 
waist 
wainscot (wan'skot), c. t.; pret. and pp. wain- 
scoted, icainscotteii, ppr. rcoinscoting, wainscot- 
ting. [Fonuerly also wcnscot; < wainscot, «.] 
1. To line or panel with wainscot: as, to rcain- 
scot a hall. 
A Chappel whose Eoof was covered with Leafe-Gold, 
wenscotteti, and decked with great store of Pearls and 
Pi-ecious Stones. S. Clarke, Geog. Descr. (1671), p. 267. 
Music is better in chambers wainscotted than hanged. 
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 144. 
The roomes are wainscotted, and some of them richly 
parquetted with cedar, yew, cyprcsse, &c. 
Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 23, 1678. 
2. To line or panel in the manner of wain- 
scoting, with material other than oak, or, more 
generally, than wood. 
The east side of it [the churolij within is tcainscotted 
with jasper and beautiful marbles. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 5. 
wainscot-chair (wan'skot-char), n. A chair 
the lower part of which below the seat is filled 
in with solid paneling, or the like, so as to 
form a box. 
wainscot-clock (wan'skot-klok). n. A tall 
standard clock with long pendulum and high 
closed ease: so called because such clocks 
stood against the wainscoting in old houses. 
Art Journal, 1883, p. 198. 
wainscoting, wainscotting (wan'skot-ing), «. 
[< wainscot -(- -iiig^.] Wainscot, or the material 
used for it. 
wainsco't-oak (wan'skot-6k), n. The Turkey 
oak, (^iicrcus Ccrris. See oak. 
wainscot-panel (wan'skot-pan"el), n. In an 
American railroad-car, a board forming a panel 
between the two wainscot-rails formerly placed 
beneath the windows. 
wain-shilling (wan'shil"ing), n. A market toll 
or tax formerly levied on wagons at markets in 
English towns. See the quotation under load- 
pen ny. 
wainwright (wan'rit), n. A wagon-maker: 
same as uagonwrigh t. 
wairif, ''. An old spelling of wcar^. 
wair" (war), n. [Origin obscure.] In carp., a 
piece of timber 6 feet long and 1 foot broad. 
Bailey, 1731. 
waischet. An obsolete past participle of wash. 
waise (waz), r. f.; pret. and pp. waised, ppr. 
icaising. A Scotch form of ici,ss. 
waist (wast), n. [Forrnerly icaste, wast; < ME. 
wast, waste, < AS. *W£est, weext, lit. 'growth,' 
'8ize'(=Icel. viixtr, stature, =Sw. TOj-^=Dan. 
veext, growth, size, = Goth, irahstus, growth, in- 
crease, stature; cf. AS. wiestnt, rarely westin, ear- 
lier wiestni, growth, fruit, produce, = G. tiachs- 
W(M/«, growth), < Hy'«jY(H, grow: see ifojl.] 1. 
The part of the human body between the chest 
and the hips ; the smaller or more compressible 
section of the trunk below the ribs and above 
the haunch-bones, including most of the abdo- 
men and the loins. A woman's waist, if untampcred 
with, which under the exigencies of modern costume is 
seldom the case, is natmiilly less contl'acted than a man's. 
The sculptures of the ancients furnish ample evidence of 
this. 
Waste, of a maiinys niyddjl. Prompt. Pan:, p. 517. 
The women go straiter and closer in their garments than 
the men do, with tlieir waistes girded. Hakluyt. 
Indeed I am in the waist two yards about. 
Shak., M. W. of W., i. 3. 46. 
Her ringlets are in taste ; 
What an arm ! — what a waiM 
For an arm ! 
F. Locker, To my Grandmother. 
2. Something worn around the waist or body, 
as a belt or girdle. 
I might have giv'n thee for thy pains 
Ten silver shekles and a golden waist. 
Peele, David and Bethsabe. 
3. A garment covering the waist or trunk. («) 
An undergarment worn especially by children, to which 
petticoats and drawers are buttoned, (b) The body or 
bodice of a dress, whether separate from the skirt or 
joined to it ; a corsage ; a basque ; a blouse. 
Doll. What fashion will make a woman have Ihe best 
body, tailor'? 
Tailor. A short Dutch waist, with a round Catherine- 
wheel fardingate. 
Dekker and Webster, Northward Ho, iii. 1. 
4. Figuratively, that which surrounds like a 
girdle. 
Spur to the rescue of the noble Talliot, 
Wlio now is girdled with a waist of iron. 
And hemm'd about with grim <lestniction. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iv. 3. 20. 
5. That part of any object which bears some 
analogy to the human Wiiist. somewhere near 
the middle of its height or length. 
A pepper l)o.\ . . . jiuinteil in blue i>n a white ground, 
. . . and the name Richard chaffers. 17!iii, round the »mW. 
Jr.witt, Ceramic Art, II. 34. 
