Wedge-tailed adjective (Zoology) Having a tail which has the middle pair of feathers longest, the rest successively and decidedly shorter, and all more or less attenuate; -- said of certain birds. See Illust. of Wood hoopoe , under Wood .

Wedge-tailed eagle , an Australian eagle ( Aquila audax ) which feeds on various small species of kangaroos, and on lambs; -- called also mountain eagle , bold eagle , and eagle hawk . -- Wedge-tailed gull , an arctic gull ( Rhodostethia rosea ) in which the plumage is tinged with rose; -- called also Ross's gull .

Wedgewise adverb In the manner of a wedge.

Wedgwood ware [ From the name of the inventor, Josiah Wedgwood , of England.] A kind of fine pottery, the most remarkable being what is called jasper , either white, or colored throughout the body, and capable of being molded into the most delicate forms, so that fine and minute bas-reliefs like cameos were made of it, fit even for being set as jewels.

Wedgy adjective Like a wedge; wedge- shaped.

Wedlock noun [ Anglo-Saxon wedlāc a pledge, be trothal; wedd a pledge + lāc a gift, an offering. See Wed , noun , and confer Lake , intransitive verb , Knowledge .]

1. The ceremony, or the state, of marriage; matrimony. "That blissful yoke . . . that men clepeth [ call] spousal, or wedlock ." Chaucer.

For what is wedlock forced but a hell,
An age of discord or continual strife?

Shak.

2. A wife; a married woman. [ Obsolete] B. Jonson.

Syn. -- See Marriage .

Wedlock transitive verb To marry; to unite in marriage; to wed. [ R.] "Man thus wedlocked ." Milton.

Wednesday noun [ Middle English wednesdai , wodnesdei , Anglo-Saxon Wōdnes dæg , i. e., Woden's day (a translation of Latin dies Mercurii ); from Wōden the highest god of the Teutonic peoples, but identified with the Roman god Mercury; akin to Old Saxon Wōdan , Old High German Wuotan , Icelandic Oðinn , Dutch woensdag Wednesday, Icelandic ōðinsdagr , Dan. & Swedish onsdag . See Day , and confer Woden , Wood , adjective ] The fourth day of the week; the next day after Tuesday.

Ash Wednesday . See in the Vocabulary.

Wee noun [ Middle English we a bit, in a little we , probably originally meaning, a little way, the word we for wei being later taken as synonymous with little . See Way .] A little; a bit, as of space, time, or distance. [ Obsolete or Scot.]

Wee adjective Very small; little. [ Colloq. & Scot.]

A little wee face, with a little yellow beard.

Shak.

Weech-elm noun (Botany) The wych-elm. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

Weed noun [ Middle English wede , Anglo-Saxon w...de , w...d ; akin to Old Saxon wādi , giwādi , OFries, w...de , w...d , OD. wade , Old High German wāt , Icelandic vā... , Zend vadh to clothe.]

1. A garment; clothing; especially, an upper or outer garment. "Low...ly shepherd's weeds ." Spenser. "Woman's weeds ." Shak. "This beggar woman's weed ." Tennyson.

He on his bed sat, the soft weeds he wore
Put off.

Chapman.

2. An article of dress worn in token of grief; a mourning garment or badge; as, he wore a weed on his hat; especially, in the plural, mourning garb, as of a woman; as, a widow's weeds .

In a mourning weed , with ashes upon her head, and tears abundantly flowing.

Milton.

Weed noun A sudden illness or relapse, often attended with fever, which attacks women in childbed. [ Scot.]

Weed noun [ Middle English weed , weod , Anglo-Saxon weód , wiód , akin to Old Saxon wiod , LG. woden the stalks and leaves of vegetables Dutch wieden to weed, Old Saxon wiodōn .]

1. Underbrush; low shrubs. [ Obsolete or Archaic]

One rushing forth out of the thickest weed .

Spenser.

A wild and wanton pard . . .
Crouched fawning in the weed .

Tennyson.

2. Any plant growing in cultivated ground to the injury of the crop or desired vegetation, or to the disfigurement of the place; an unsightly, useless, or injurious plant.

Too much manuring filled that field with weeds .

Denham.

» The word has no definite application to any particular plant, or species of plants. Whatever plants grow among corn or grass, in hedges, or elsewhere, and are useless to man, injurious to crops, or unsightly or out of place, are denominated weeds .

3. Fig.: Something unprofitable or troublesome; anything useless.

4. (Stock Breeding) An animal unfit to breed from.

5. Tobacco, or a cigar. [ Slang]

Weed hook , a hook used for cutting away or extirpating weeds. Tusser.

Weed transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Weeded ; present participle & verbal noun Weeding .] [ Anglo-Saxon weódian . See 3d Weed .]

1. To free from noxious plants; to clear of weeds; as, to weed corn or onions; to weed a garden.

2. To take away, as noxious plants; to remove, as something hurtful; to extirpate. " Weed up thyme." Shak.

Wise fathers . . . weeding from their children ill things.

Ascham.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.

Bacon.

3. To free from anything hurtful or offensive.

He weeded the kingdom of such as were devoted to Elaiana.

Howell.

4. (Stock Breeding) To reject as unfit for breeding purposes.

Weeder noun One who, or that which, weeds, or frees from anything noxious.

Weedery noun Weeds, collectively; also, a place full of weeds or for growing weeds. [ R.] Dr. H. More.

Weeding adjective & noun from Weed , v.

Weeding chisel , a tool with a divided chisel-like end, for cutting the roots of large weeds under ground. -- Weeding forceps , an instrument for taking up some sorts of plants in weeding. -- Weeding fork , a strong, three-pronged fork, used in clearing ground of weeds; -- called also weeding iron . -- Weeding hook . Same as Weed hook , under 3d Weed . -- Weeding iron . See Weeding fork , above. -- Weeding tongs . Same as Weeding forceps , above.

Weeding-rhim noun [ Confer Prov. English rim to remove.] A kind of implement used for tearing up weeds esp. on summer fallows. [ Prov. Eng.]

Weedless adjective Free from weeds or noxious matter.

Weedy adjective [ Compar. Weedier ; superl. Weediest .]

1. Of or pertaining to weeds; consisting of weeds. " Weedy trophies." Shak.

2. Abounding with weeds; as, weedy grounds; a weedy garden; weedy corn.

See from the weedy earth a rivulet break.

Bryant.

3. Scraggy; ill-shaped; ungainly; -- said of colts or horses, and also of persons. [ Colloq.]

Weedy adjective Dressed in weeds, or mourning garments. [ R. or Colloq.]

She was as weedy as in the early days of her mourning.

Dickens.

Week noun [ Middle English weke , wike , woke , wuke Anglo-Saxon weocu , wicu , wucu ; akin to Old Saxon wika , OFries. wike , Dutch week , German woche , Old High German wohha , wehha , Icelandic vika , Swedish vecka , Danish uge , Goth. wik... , probably originally meaning, a succession or change, and akin to German wechsel change, Latin vicis turn, alternation, and English weak . Confer Weak .] A period of seven days, usually that reckoned from one Sabbath or Sunday to the next.

I fast twice in the week .

Luke xviii. 12.

» Although it [ the week] did not enter into the calendar of the Greeks, and was not introduced at Rome till after the reign of Theodesius, it has been employed from time immemorial in almost all Eastern countries. Encyc. Brit.

Feast of Weeks . See Pentecost , 1. -- Prophetic week , a week of years, or seven years. Dan. ix. 24. -- Week day . See under Day .

Week-end noun The end of the week; specif., though loosely, the period observed commonly as a holiday, from Saturday noon or Friday night to Monday; as, to visit one for a week-end ; also, a house party during a week-end.

Weekly adjective
1. Of or pertaining to a week, or week days; as, weekly labor.

2. Coming, happening, or done once a week; hebdomadary; as, a weekly payment; a weekly gazette.

Weekly noun ; plural Weeklies A publication issued once in seven days, or appearing once a week.

Weekly adverb Once a week; by hebdomadal periods; as, each performs service weekly .

Weekwam noun See Wigwam . [ R.]

Weel adjective & adverb Well. [ Obsolete or Scot.]

Weel noun [ Anglo-Saxon wǣl . √147.] A whirlpool. [ Obsolete]

Weel, Weely [ Prov. English weel , weal , a wicker basket to catch eels; probably akin to willow , and so called as made of willow twigs.] A kind of trap or snare for fish, made of twigs. [ Obsolete] Carew.

Ween intransitive verb [ Middle English wenen , Anglo-Saxon w...nan , from w...n hope, expectation, opinion; akin to Dutch waan , OFries. w...n , Old Saxon & Old High German wān , German wahn delusion, Icelandic vān hope, expectation, Goth. w...ns , and Dutch wanen to fancy, German wähnen , Icelandic vāna to hope, Goth. w...njan , and perhaps to English winsome , wish .] To think; to imagine; to fancy. [ Obsolete or Poetic] Spenser. Milton.

I have lost more than thou wenest .

Chaucer.

For well I ween ,
Never before in the bowers of light
Had the form of an earthly fay been seen.

J. R. Drake.

Though never a dream the roses sent
Of science or love's compliment,
I ween they smelt as sweet.

Mrs. Browning.

Weep noun (Zoology) The lapwing; the wipe; -- so called from its cry.

Weep obsolete imperfect of Weep , for wept . Chaucer.

Weep intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Wept ; present participle & verbal noun Weeping .] [ Middle English wepen , Anglo-Saxon w...pan , from w...p lamentation; akin to OFries. w...pa to lament, Old Saxon w...p lamentation, Old High German wuof , Icelandic ...p a shouting, crying, Old Saxon w...pian to lament, Old High German wuoffan , wuoffen , Icelandic ...pa , Goth. w...pjan . .............]

1. Formerly, to express sorrow, grief, or anguish, by outcry, or by other manifest signs; in modern use, to show grief or other passions by shedding tears; to shed tears; to cry.

And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck.

Acts xx. 37.

Phocion was rarely seen to weep or to laugh.

Mitford.

And eyes that wake to weep .

Mrs. Hemans.

And they wept together in silence.

Longfellow.

2. To lament; to complain. "They weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat." Num. xi. 13.

3. To flow in drops; to run in drops.

The blood weeps from my heart.

Shak.

4. To drop water, or the like; to drip; to be soaked.

5. To hang the branches, as if in sorrow; to be pendent; to droop; -- said of a plant or its branches.

Weep transitive verb
1. To lament; to bewail; to bemoan. "I weep bitterly the dead." A. S. Hardy.

We wandering go
Through dreary wastes, and weep each other's woe.

Pope.

2. To shed, or pour forth, as tears; to shed drop by drop, as if tears; as, to weep tears of joy.

Tears, such as angels weep , burst forth.

Milton.

Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm.

Milton.

Weeper noun
1. One who weeps; esp., one who sheds tears.

2. A white band or border worn on the sleeve as a badge of mourning. Goldsmith.

3. (Zoology) The capuchin. See Capuchin , 3 (a) .

Weepful adjective Full of weeping or lamentation; grieving. [ Obsolete] Wyclif.

Weeping noun The act of one who weeps; lamentation with tears; shedding of tears.

Weeping adjective
1. Grieving; lamenting; shedding tears. " Weeping eyes." I. Watts.

2. Discharging water, or other liquid, in drops or very slowly; surcharged with water. " Weeping grounds." Mortimer.

3. Having slender, pendent branches; -- said of trees; as, weeping willow; a weeping ash.

4. Pertaining to lamentation, or those who weep.

Weeping cross , a cross erected on or by the highway, especially for the devotions of penitents; hence, to return by the weeping cross , to return from some undertaking in humiliation or penitence. -- Weeping rock , a porous rock from which water gradually issues. -- Weeping sinew , a ganglion. See Ganglion , noun , 2. [ Colloq.] -- Weeping spring , a spring that discharges water slowly. -- Weeping willow (Botany) , a species of willow ( Salix Babylonica ) whose branches grow very long and slender, and hang down almost perpendicularly.

Weeping tree (a) Any tree having pendulous branches. (b) A tree from which honeydew or other liquid secretions of insects drip in considerable quantities, esp. one infested by the larvæ of any species of the genus Ptylus , allied to the cuckoo spits, which in tropical countries secrete large quantities of a watery fluid.

Weeping-ripe adjective Ripe for weeping; ready to weep. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Weepingly adverb In a weeping manner.

Weerish adjective See Wearish . [ Obsolete]

Weesel noun (Zoology) See Weasel .

Weet adjective & noun Wet. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Weet intransitive verb [ imperfect Wot .] [ See Wit to know.] To know; to wit. [ Obsolete] Tyndale. Spenser.

Weet-bird noun (Zoology) The wryneck; -- so called from its cry. [ Prov. Eng.]

Weetingly adverb Knowingly. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Weetless adjective Unknowing; also, unknown; unmeaning. [ Obsolete] Spenser.