Wên-li noun [ Chin. wên li .] The higher literary idiom of Chinese, that of the canonical books and of all composition pretending to literary standing. It employs a classical or academic diction, and a more condensed and sententious style than Mandarin, and differs also in the doubling and arrangement of words.

Wend (wĕnd), obsolete past participle of Wene . Chaucer.

Wend intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Wended , Obsolete Went ; present participle & verbal noun Wending .] [ Anglo-Saxon wendan to turn, to go, caus. of windan to wind; akin to Old Saxon wendian , OFries. wenda , Dutch wenden to turn, German wenden , Icelandic venda , Swedish vända , Danish vende , Goth. wandjan . See Wind to turn, and confer Went .]

1. To go; to pass; to betake one's self. "To Canterbury they wend ." Chaucer.

To Athens shall the lovers wend .

Shak.

2. To turn round. [ Obsolete] Sir W. Raleigh.

Wend transitive verb To direct; to betake; -- used chiefly in the phrase to wend one's way . Also used reflexively. "Great voyages to wend ." Surrey.

Wend noun (O. Eng. Law) A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit. [ Obsolete] Burrill.

Wende obsolete imperfect of Wene . Chaucer.

Wendic noun The language of the Wends.

Wendic, Wendish adjective Of or pertaining the Wends, or their language.

Wends noun plural ; sing. Wend . (Ethnol.) A Slavic tribe which once occupied the northern and eastern parts of Germany, of which a small remnant exists.

Wene intransitive verb To ween. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Wenlock group (Geol.) The middle subdivision of the Upper Silurian in Great Britain; -- so named from the typical locality in Shropshire.

Wennel noun See Weanel . [ Obsolete] Tusser.

Wennish, Wenny adjective [ From Wen .] Having the nature of a wen; resembling a wen; as, a wennish excrescence.

Wenona noun (Zoology) A sand snake ( Charina plumbea ) of Western North America, of the family Erycidæ .

Went imperfect & past participle of Wend ; - - now obsolete except as the imperfect of go , with which it has no etymological connection. See Go .

To the church both be they went .

Chaucer.

Went noun Course; way; path; journey; direction. [ Obsolete] "At a turning of a wente ." Chaucer.

But here my weary team, nigh overspent,
Shall breathe itself awhile after so long a went .

Spenser.

He knew the diverse went of mortal ways.

Spenser.

Wentletrap noun [ Dutch wenteltrap a winding staircase; confer German wendeltreppe .] [ Obsolete] Any one of numerous species of elegant, usually white, marine shells of the genus Scalaria, especially Scalaria pretiosa , which was formerly highly valued; -- called also staircase shell . See Scalaria .

Wep obsolete imperfect of Weep .

Wepen noun Weapon. [ Obsolete]

Wept imperfect & past participle of Weep .

Werche transitive verb & i. To work. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Were transitive verb & i. To wear. See 3d Wear . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Were noun A weir. See Weir . [ Obsolete] Chaucer. Sir P. Sidney.

Were transitive verb [ Anglo-Saxon werian .] To guard; to protect. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Were (wẽr; 277). [ Anglo-Saxon wǣre (thou) wast, wǣron (we, you, they) were, wǣre imperfect subjunctive See Was .] The imperfect indicative plural, and imperfect subjunctive singular and plural, of the verb be . See Be .

Were (wēr) noun [ Anglo-Saxon wer ; akin to Old Saxon & Old High German wer , Goth. waír , Latin vir , Sanskrit vīra . Confer Weregild , and Werewolf .]

1. A man. [ Obsolete]

2. A fine for slaying a man; the money value set upon a man's life; weregild. [ Obsolete]

Every man was valued at a certain sum, which was called his were .

Bosworth.

Weregild noun [ Anglo-Saxon wergild ; wer a man, value set on a man's life + gild payment of money; akin to German wehrgeld . √285. See Were a man, and Geld , noun ] (O. Eng. Law) The price of a man's head; a compensation paid of a man killed, partly to the king for the loss of a subject, partly to the lord of a vassal, and partly to the next of kin. It was paid by the murderer. [ Written also weregeld , weregelt , etc.] Blackstone.

Werewolf noun ; plural Werewolves . [ Anglo-Saxon werwulf ; wer a man + wulf a wolf; confer German wärwolf , währwolf , wehrwolf , a werewolf, Middle High German werwolf . √285. See Were a man, and Wolf , and confer Virile , World .] A person transformed into a wolf in form and appetite, either temporarily or permanently, whether by supernatural influences, by witchcraft, or voluntarily; a lycanthrope. Belief in werewolves, formerly general, is not now extinct.

The werwolf went about his prey.

William of Palerne.

The brutes that wear our form and face,
The werewolves of the human race.

Longfellow.

Werk noun , Werke v. See Work . [ Obsolete]

Wern transitive verb [ See 1st Warn .] To refuse. [ Obsolete]

He is too great a niggard that will wern
A man to light a candle at his lantern.

Chaucer.

Wernerian adjective Of or pertaining to A. German Werner , The German mineralogist and geologist, who classified minerals according to their external characters, and advocated the theory that the strata of the earth's crust were formed by depositions from water; designating, or according to, Werner's system.

Wernerite noun [ See Wernerian .] (Min.) The common grayish or white variety of soapolite.

Weroole noun (Zoology) An Australian lorikeet ( Ptilosclera versicolor ) noted for the variety of its colors; -- called also varied lorikeet .

Werre noun War. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Werrey (wẽr"rā) transitive verb To warray. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Werst (wẽrst) noun See Verst .

Wert (wẽrt), The second person singular, indicative and subjunctive moods, imperfect tense, of the verb be . It is formed from were , with the ending -t , after the analogy of wast . Now used only in solemn or poetic style.

Wert noun A wart. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Weryangle noun See Wariangle . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Wesand noun See Weasand . [ Obsolete]

Wesh obsolete imperfect of Wash . Washed. Chaucer.

Wesil noun See Weasand . [ Obsolete]

Wesleyan adjective [ See Wesleyanism .] Of or pertaining to Wesley or Wesleyanism.

Wesleyan noun (Eccl.) One who adopts the principles of Wesleyanism; a Methodist.

Wesleyanism noun (Eccl.) The system of doctrines and church polity inculcated by John Wesley (b. 1703; d. 1791), the founder of the religious sect called Methodist; Methodism. See Methodist , noun , 2.

West noun [ Anglo-Saxon west , adverb ; akin to Dutch west , German west , westen , Old High German westan , Icelandic vestr , Swedish vest , vester , vestan , Danish vest , vesten , and perhaps to Latin vesper evening, Greek .... ............. Confer Vesper , Visigoth .]

1. The point in the heavens where the sun is seen to set at the equinox; or, the corresponding point on the earth; that one of the four cardinal points of the compass which is in a direction at right angles to that of north and south, and on the left hand of a person facing north; the point directly opposite to east.

And fresh from the west is the free wind's breath.

Bryant.

2. A country, or region of country, which, with regard to some other country or region, is situated in the direction toward the west.

3. Specifically: (a) The Westen hemisphere, or the New World so called, it having been discovered by sailing westward from Europe; the Occident. (b) (U. S. Hist. & Geology) Formerly, that part of the United States west of the Alleghany mountains; now, commonly, the whole region west of the Mississippi river; esp., that part which is north of the Indian Territory, New Mexico, etc. Usually with the definite article.

West by north , West by south , according to the notation of the mariner's compass, that point which lies 11¼Â° to the north or south, respectively, of the point due west. -- West northwest , West southwest , that point which lies 22½Â° to the north or south of west, or halfway between west and northwest or southwest, respectively. See Illust. of Compass .

West adjective Lying toward the west; situated at the west, or in a western direction from the point of observation or reckoning; proceeding toward the west, or coming from the west; as, a west course is one toward the west; an east and west line; a west wind blows from the west.

This shall be your west border.

Num. xxxiv. 6.

West end , the fashionable part of London, commencing from the east, at Charing Cross.

West adverb [ Anglo-Saxon west .] Westward.

West intransitive verb

1. To pass to the west; to set, as the sun. [ Obsolete] "The hot sun gan to west ." Chaucer.

2. To turn or move toward the west; to veer from the north or south toward the west.

West adjective (Eccl.) Designating, or situated in, that part of a church which is opposite to, and farthest from, the east, or the part containing the chancel and choir.

West India, West Indian Belonging or relating to the West Indies.

West India tea (Botany) , a shrubby plant ( Capraria biflora ) having oblanceolate toothed leaves which are sometimes used in the West Indies as a substitute for tea.