Wall-plat noun (Zoology) The spotted flycatcher. It builds its nest on walls. [ Prov. Eng.]

Wall-sided adjective (Nautical) Having sides nearly perpendicular; -- said of certain vessels to distinguish them from those having flaring sides, or sides tumbling home (see under Tumble , intransitive verb ).

Wallow intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Wallowed ; present participle & verbal noun Wallowing .] [ Middle English walwen , Anglo-Saxon wealwian ; akin to Goth. walwjan (in comp.) to roll, Latin volvere ; confer Sanskrit val to turn. √147. Confer Voluble Well , noun ]

1. To roll one's self about, as in mire; to tumble and roll about; to move lazily or heavily in any medium; to flounder; as, swine wallow in the mire.

I may wallow in the lily beds.

Shak.

2. To live in filth or gross vice; to disport one's self in a beastly and unworthy manner.

God sees a man wallowing in his native impurity.

South.

3. To wither; to fade. [ Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

Wallow transitive verb To roll; esp., to roll in anything defiling or unclean. " Wallow thyself in ashes." Jer. vi. 26.

Wallow noun A kind of rolling walk.

One taught the toss, and one the new French wallow .

Dryden.

Wallow noun
1. Act of wallowing.

2. A place to which an animal comes to wallow; also, the depression in the ground made by its wallowing; as, a buffalo wallow .

Wallower noun
1. One who, or that which, wallows.

2. (Machinery) A lantern wheel; a trundle.

Wallowish adjective [ Scot. wallow to fade or wither.] Flat; insipid. [ Obsolete] Overbury.

Wallwort noun (Botany) The dwarf elder, or danewort ( Sambucus Ebulus ).

Walm intransitive verb [ Anglo-Saxon weallan ; confer wælm , billow. √147.] To roll; to spout; to boil up. [ Obsolete] Holland.

Walnut noun [ Middle English walnot , Anglo-Saxon wealh-hnutu a Welsh or foreign nut, a walnut; wealh foreign, strange, noun , a Welshman, Celt (akin to Old High German Walh , properly, a Celt, from the name of a Celtic tribe, in Latin Volcae ) + hnutu a nut; akin to Dutch walnoot , German walnuss , Icelandic valhnot , Swedish valnöt , Dan valnöd . See Nut , and confer Welsh .] (Botany) The fruit or nut of any tree of the genus Juglans ; also, the tree, and its timber. The seven or eight known species are all natives of the north temperate zone.

» In some parts of America, especially in New England, the name walnut is given to several species of hickory ( Carya ), and their fruit.

Ash-leaved walnut , a tree ( Juglans fraxinifolia ), native in Transcaucasia. -- Black walnut , a North American tree ( J. nigra ) valuable for its purplish brown wood, which is extensively used in cabinetwork and for gunstocks. The nuts are thick-shelled, and nearly globular. -- English , or European , walnut , a tree ( J. regia ), native of Asia from the Caucasus to Japan, valuable for its timber and for its excellent nuts, which are also called Madeira nuts . -- Walnut brown , a deep warm brown color, like that of the heartwood of the black walnut. -- Walnut oil , oil extracted from walnut meats. It is used in cooking, making soap, etc. -- White walnut , a North American tree ( J. cinerea ), bearing long, oval, thick-shelled, oily nuts, commonly called butternuts . See Butternut .

Walrus noun [ Dutch walrus ; of Scand. origin; confer Dan valros , Swedish vallross , Norw. hvalros ; literally, whale horse; akin to Icelandic hrosshvalr , Anglo-Saxon horshwæl . See Whale , and Horse .] (Zoology) A very large marine mammal ( Trichecus rosmarus ) of the Seal family, native of the Arctic Ocean. The male has long and powerful tusks descending from the upper jaw. It uses these in procuring food and in fighting. It is hunted for its oil, ivory, and skin. It feeds largely on mollusks. Called also morse .

» The walrus of the North Pacific and Behring Strait ( Trichecus obesus ) is regarded by some as a distinct species, by others as a variety of the common walrus.

Walter intransitive verb [ See Welter .] To roll or wallow; to welter. [ Obsolete or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

Waltron noun A walrus. [ Obsolete] Woodward.

Walty adjective [ Confer Walter to roll.] Liable to roll over; crank; as, a walty ship. [ R.] Longfellow.

Waltz noun [ German walzer , from walzen to roll, revolve, dance, Old High German walzan to roll; akin to Anglo-Saxon wealtan . See Welter .] A dance performed by two persons in circular figures with a whirling motion; also, a piece of music composed in triple measure for this kind of dance.

Waltz intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Waltzed ; present participle & verbal noun Waltzing .] To dance a waltz.

Waltzer noun A person who waltzes.

Walwe v. To wallow. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Waly interj. [ Confer Welaway .] An exclamation of grief. [ Obsolete or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

Wamble intransitive verb [ Confer Danish vamle , and vammel squeamish, ready to vomit, Icelandic væma to feel nausea, væminn nauseous.]
1. To heave; to be disturbed by nausea; -- said of the stomach. L'Estrange.

2. To move irregularly to and fro; to roll.

Wamble noun Disturbance of the stomach; a feeling of nausea. Holland.

Wamble-cropped adjective Sick at the stomach; also, crestfallen; dejected. [ Slang]

Wammel intransitive verb To move irregularly or awkwardly; to wamble, or wabble. [ Prov. Eng.]

Wamp noun [ From the North American Indian name.] (Zoology) The common American eider.

Wampee noun (Botany) (a) A tree ( Cookia punctata ) of the Orange family, growing in China and the East Indies; also, its fruit, which is about the size of a large grape, and has a hard rind and a peculiar flavor. (b) The pickerel weed. [ Southern U. S.]

Wampum noun [ North American Indian wampum , wompam , from the Mass. wómpi , Del. wāpe , white.] Beads made of shells, used by the North American Indians as money, and also wrought into belts, etc., as an ornament.

Round his waist his belt of wampum .

Longfellow.

Girded with his wampum braid.

Whittier.

» These beads were of two kinds, one white, and the other black or dark purple. The term wampum is properly applied only to the white; the dark purple ones are called suckanhock . See Seawan . "It [ wampum] consisted of cylindrical pieces of the shells of testaceous fishes, a quarter of an inch long, and in diameter less than a pipestem, drilled . . . so as to be strung upon a thread. The beads of a white color, rated at half the value of the black or violet, passed each as the equivalent of a farthing in transactions between the natives and the planters." Palfrey.

Wan obsolete imperfect of Win . Won. Chaucer.

Wan adjective [ Anglo-Saxon wann , wonn , wan , won , dark, lurid, livid, perhaps originally, worn out by toil, from winnan to labor, strive. See Win .] Having a pale or sickly hue; languid of look; pale; pallid. "Sad to view, his visage pale and wan ." Spenser.

My color . . . [ is] wan and of a leaden hue.

Chaucer.

Why so pale and wan , fond lover?

Suckling.

With the wan moon overhead.

Longfellow.

Wan noun The quality of being wan; wanness. [ R.]

Tinged with wan from lack of sleep.

Tennyson.

Wan intransitive verb To grow wan; to become pale or sickly in looks. "All his visage wanned ." Shak.

And ever he mutter'd and madden'd, and ever wann'd with despair.

Tennyson.

Wand noun [ Of Scand. origin; confer Icelandic vöndr , akin to Danish vaand , Goth. wandus ; perhaps originally, a pliant twig, and akin to English wind to turn.]
1. A small stick; a rod; a verge.

With good smart blows of a wand on his back.

Locke.

2. Specifically: (a) A staff of authority.

Though he had both spurs and wand , they seemed rather marks of sovereignty than instruments of punishment.

Sir P. Sidney.

(b) A rod used by conjurers, diviners, magicians, etc.

Picus bore a buckler in his hand;
His other waved a long divining wand .

Dryden.

Wand of peace (Scots Law) , a wand, or staff, carried by the messenger of a court, which he breaks when deforced (that is, hindered from executing process), as a symbol of the deforcement, and protest for remedy of law. Burrill.

Wander intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Wandered ; present participle & verbal noun Wandering .] [ Middle English wandren , wandrien , Anglo-Saxon wandrian ; akin to German wandern to wander; from Anglo-Saxon windan to turn. See Wind to turn.]

1. To ramble here and there without any certain course or with no definite object in view; to range about; to stroll; to rove; as, to wander over the fields.

They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins.

Hebrew xi. 37.

He wandereth abroad for bread.

Job xv. 23.

2. To go away; to depart; to stray off; to deviate; to go astray; as, a writer wanders from his subject.

When God caused me to wander from my father's house.

Gen. xx. 13.

O, let me not wander from thy commandments.

Ps. cxix. 10.

3. To be delirious; not to be under the guidance of reason; to rave; as, the mind wanders .

Syn. -- To roam; rove; range; stroll; gad; stray; straggly; err; swerve; deviate; depart.

Wander transitive verb To travel over without a certain course; to traverse; to stroll through. [ R.] "[ Elijah] wandered this barren waste." Milton.

Wanderer noun One who wanders; a rambler; one who roves; hence, one who deviates from duty.

Wandering adjective & noun from Wander , v.

Wandering albatross (Zoology) , the great white albatross. See Illust. of Albatross . -- Wandering cell (Physiol.) , an animal cell which possesses the power of spontaneous movement, as one of the white corpuscles of the blood. -- Wandering Jew (Botany) , any one of several creeping species of Tradescantia , which have alternate, pointed leaves, and a soft, herbaceous stem which roots freely at the joints. They are commonly cultivated in hanging baskets, window boxes, etc. -- Wandering kidney (Medicine) , a morbid condition in which one kidney, or, rarely, both kidneys, can be moved in certain directions; -- called also floating kidney , movable kidney . -- Wandering liver (Medicine) , a morbid condition of the liver, similar to wandering kidney. -- Wandering mouse (Zoology) , the whitefooted, or deer, mouse. See Illust. of Mouse . -- Wandering spider (Zoology) , any one of a tribe of spiders that wander about in search of their prey.

Wanderingly adverb In a wandering manner.

Wanderment noun The act of wandering, or roaming. [ Obsolete] Bp. Hall.

Wanderoo noun [ Cingalese wanderu a monkey.] (Zoology) A large monkey ( Macacus silenus ) native of Malabar. It is black, or nearly so, but has a long white or gray beard encircling the face. Called also maha , silenus , neelbhunder , lion-tailed baboon , and great wanderoo . [ Written also ouanderoo .]

» The name is sometimes applied also to other allied species.

Wandy adjective Long and flexible, like a wand. [ Prov. Eng.] Brockett.

Wane intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Waned ; present participle & verbal noun Waning .] [ Middle English wanien , Anglo-Saxon wanian , wonian , from wan , won , deficient, wanting; akin to Dutch wan- , German wahn sinn, insanity, Old High German wan , wana- , lacking, wan...n to lessen, Icelandic vanr lacking, Goth. vans ; confer Greek ... bereaved, Sanskrit ...na wanting, inferior. ............. Confer Want lack, and Wanton .]

1. To be diminished; to decrease; -- contrasted with wax , and especially applied to the illuminated part of the moon.

Like the moon, aye wax ye and wane .
Waning moons their settled periods keep.

Addison.

2. To decline; to fail; to sink.

You saw but sorrow in its waning form.

Dryden.

Land and trade ever will wax and wane together.

Sir J. Child.

Wane transitive verb To cause to decrease. [ Obsolete] B. Jonson.

Wane noun
1. The decrease of the illuminated part of the moon to the eye of a spectator.

2. Decline; failure; diminution; decrease; declension.

An age in which the church is in its wane .

South.

Though the year be on the wane .

Keble.

3. An inequality in a board. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Wane noun (Forestry) The natural curvature of a log or of the edge of a board sawed from a log.

Waney noun A sharp or uneven edge on a board that is cut from a log not perfectly squared, or that is made in the process of squaring. See Wany , adjective

Wang noun [ Middle English wange , Anglo-Saxon wange , wonge , cheek, jaw; akin to Dutch wang , Old Saxon & Old High German wanga , German wange .]

1. The jaw, jawbone, or cheek bone. [ Obsolete or Prov. Eng.]

So work aye the wangs in his head.

Chaucer.

2. A slap; a blow. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Wang tooth , a cheek tooth; a molar. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Wang noun See Whang . [ Obsolete or Prov. Eng.]

Wangan noun [ American Indian.] A boat for conveying provisions, tools, etc.; -- so called by Maine lumbermen. [ Written also wangun .] Bartlett.

Wanger noun [ Anglo-Saxon wangere . See 1st Wang .] A pillow for the cheek; a pillow. [ Obsolete & R.]

His bright helm was his wanger .

Chaucer.

Wanghee noun [ Chin. wang yellow + he... a root.] (Botany) The Chinese name of one or two species of bamboo, or jointed cane, of the genus Phyllostachys . The slender stems are much used for walking sticks. [ Written also whanghee .]

Wango noun A boomerang.

Wanhope noun [ Anglo-Saxon wan , won , deficient, wanting + hopa hope: confer Dutch wanhoop . ............ . See Wane , and Hope .] Want of hope; despair; also, faint or delusive hope; delusion. [ Obsolete] Piers Plowman . " Wanhope and distress." Chaucer.

Wanhorn noun [ Corruption from Siamese wanhom .] (Botany) An East Indian plant ( Kæmpferia Galanga ) of the Ginger family. See Galanga .