W E A 
593 
W E A 
WEAL, s. [pelan, Saxon ; wealust, Dutch.] Happiness; 
prosperity; flourishing state. 
Our weal on you depending, 
Counts it your weal, that he have liberty. Shakspeare. 
To WEAL, or Wale, ». a. [palan, Sax.] To mark with 
stripes or lashes.—Thy sacred body was stripped of thy gar¬ 
ments, and waled with bloody stripes. Bp. Hall. 
WEAL, s. The mark of a stripe.—Like warts or weals 
it hangs upon her skin. Donne, 
WEAL -away, interj. Alas. See Welaway. 
WEALD, Wald, Walt. Whether singly or jointly, 
signify a wood or grove, from the Saxon pealb. Gibson. 
WEALD, a woody tract of country in England, in the 
south parts of the counties of Sussex and Kent, extending 
from Winchelsea to the top of Riverhill, towards Tunbridge. 
WEALD, a township of England, in Oxfordshire; 6J 
miles south-south-east of Burford. 
WEALD, a hamlet of England, in Kent; 2 miles from 
Seven Oaks. Population 510. 
WEALD, North, a parish of England, in Essex; 3§ 
miles north-east-by-east of Epping. 
WEALD, South, a hamlet of England, in Essex; 2 
miles west of Brentford. Population 1010. 
WEA'LSMAN, s. A sneering word for politician. 
Mason. —Meeting two such wealsmen as you are, I cannot 
call you Lycurgusses. Shakspeare. 
WEALTH, s. [paleS, rich, Saxon; the third person sin¬ 
gular of pelegian, locupletare. Mr. II. Toole. ] Prosperity ; 
external happiness.—Riches; money, or precious goods. 
I should forge 
Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal. 
Destroying them for wealth. 
WEA'LTHILY, ado. Richly. 
I come to wive it wealthily in Padua ; 
If wealthily, then happily in Padua. 
WEA'LTHINESS, s. Richness. 
WEA'LTHY, adj. Rich; opulent; abundant. 
I will be married to a wealthy widow, 
Ere three days pass. Shakspeare. 
To WEAN, v. a. [penan, Sax.] To put from the 
breast; to ablactate.—She was weaned when it did taste the 
wormwood on the nipple; pretty fool, to see it fall out with 
the dug. Shalcspeare. —To withdraw from any habit or 
desire. 
I the rather wean me from despair, 
For love of Edward's offspring in my womb. Shalcspeare. 
WEA'NEL, or Wea'nling, s. An animal newly 
weaned. 
To gorge the flesh of lambs and weanling- kids. 
On hills where flocks are fed, flies tow’rd the springs 
Of Ganges or Hydaspes. Milton. 
A child newly weaned. 
WEA'PON, s. [paepun, Saxon.] Instrument of offence; 
something with which one is armed to hurt another. 
Take this weapon 
Which I have here recover’d from the Moor. Shalcspeare. 
WEA'PONED, adj. Armed for offence; furnished with 
arms.—In what sort, so ill weaponed, could you atchieve this 
enterprize ? Sidney 
WEA'PONLESS, adj. Having no weapon ; unarmed. 
I could have sent him. 
With more ease, weaponless to you, and bound. 
Beaum. and FI. 
WEA'PONSALVE, s. A salve which was supposed to 
cure the wound, being applied to the weapon that made it.— 
That the sympathetic powder and the weaponsalve con¬ 
stantly perform what is promised, I leave others to believe. 
Boyle. 
To WEAR, v. a. preterite wore, participle worn. 
[pepan. Sax.] To waste with use or time, or instruments; 
to impair or lessen by gradual diminution. 
Vol. XXIV. No. 1658. 
To his name inscrib’d, their tears they pay, 
Till years and kisses wear his name away. 
To consume tediously. 
What masks, what dances, 
To wear away this long age of three hours! 
To carry appendant to the body. 
Why art thou angry ?— 
That such a slave as this should wear a sword,. 
Who wears not honesty. Shalcspeare. 
To exhibit in appearance. 
Such an infectious face her sorrow wears, 
I can bear death, but not Cydaria’s tears. Dryden. 
To affect by degrees.—Trials wear us into a liking of 
what possibly, in the first essay, displeased us. Locke. 
To Wear okI, To harass.—He shall wear out the saints. 
Dan. 
To Wear out. To waste or destroy by degrees. 
This very rev’rent lecher, quite worn out 
With rheumatisms, and crippled with his gout. Dryden. 
To Wear ship, v. a. [wieren, Dutch.] A nautical 
term : to bring the ship round. 
To WEAR, v. n. To be wasted with use or time. It has 
commonly some particle, as, out, away, off. —In those who 
have lost their sight when young, in whom the ideas of co¬ 
lours having been but slightly taken notice of, and ceasing 
to be repeated, do quite wear out. Locke.— To be tediously 
spent. 
Thus wore out night, and now the herald lark 
Left his ground-nest, high towering to descry 
The morn’s approach, and greet her with his song. Milton. 
To pass away by degrees.—The difficulty will every day 
grow less and wear off, and obedience become easy and fa¬ 
miliar. Rogers. 
WEAR, s. The act of wearing; the thing worn. 
It was th’ inchanlment of her riches 
That made m’ apply 6 your crony witches: 
That in return would pay th’ expence, 
The wear and tear of conscience. Hudihras. 
[psep, Saxon, a fen ; war, German, a mound.'] A dam to 
shut up and raise the water; commonly written weir or wier. 
—They will force themselves through flood-gates, or over 
wears, hedges or stops in the water. Walton. —A net of 
twigs to catch fish. 
WEAR, a river of England, in the county of Durham, 
which rises among the wild moors that divide the counties 
of Durham and Northumberland, from Cumberland and 
Westmorland, crosses the central part of the county, and 
falls into the sea below Sunderland. The valley called 
Weardale is a very wild and romantic district. 
WEARD, s. Weard, whether initial or final, signifies 
watchfulness or care, from the Saxon peapdan, to ward or 
keep. Gibson. 
WEARDLEY, a township of England, in Yorkshire; 6| 
miles east of Otley. 
WE ARE, a parish of England, in Somersetshire; 1| mile 
south-by-west of Axbridge. Population 608. 
WEARE, a hamlet of England, in Devonshire, about a 
mile north-by-west of Topsham. 
WEARE, a post township of the United States, in Hills¬ 
borough county, New Hampshire; 15 miles north north-west 
of Amherst, and 55 west of Portsmouth. Population 2634. 
WEARER, s. One who has any thing appendaut to 
his person. 
Were I the wearer of Antonio’s beard, 
1 would not shave to-day. Skakspeare. 
That which wastes or diminishes.—Take away this mea¬ 
sure from our dress and habits, and all is turned into such 
paint and glitter, and ridiculous ornaments, as are a real 
shame to the wearer. Law. 
WEARHORN, a parish of England, in Kent; 6 miles 
from Ashford. Population 435. 
6 K WEA'RINESS, 
Shakspeare. 
Shalcspeare. 
Dryden. 
Shakspeare. 
