Wa'n't A colloquial contraction of was not .

Waniand noun [ See Wanion .] The wane of the moon. [ Obsolete] Halliwell.

Waning noun The act or process of waning, or decreasing.

This earthly moon, the Church, hath fulls and wanings , and sometimes her eclipses.

Bp. Hall.

Wanion noun [ Probably for Middle English waniand waning, present participle of wanien ; hence, used of the waning of the moon, supposed to be an unlucky time. See Wane .] A word of uncertain signification, used only in the phrase with a wanion , apparently equivalent to with a vengeance , with a plague , or with misfortune . [ Obsolete] B. Jonson. Latimer.

Wankle adjective [ Anglo-Saxon wancol .] Not to be depended on; weak; unstable. [ Prov. Eng.] Grose.

Wanly adverb In a wan, or pale, manner.

Wanned adjective Made wan, or pale.

Wanness noun The quality or state of being wan; a sallow, dead, pale color; paleness; pallor; as, the wanness of the cheeks after a fever.

Wannish adjective Somewhat wan; of a pale hue.

No sun, but a wannish glare,
In fold upon fold of hueless cloud.

Tennyson.

Want -277 noun [ Originally an adj., from Icelandic vant , neuter of vanr lacking, deficient. √139. See Wane , intransitive verb ]

1. The state of not having;

Want transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Wanted ; present participle & verbal noun Wanting .]

1. To be without; to be destitute of, or deficient in; not to have; to lack; as, to want knowledge; to want judgment; to want learning; to want food and clothing.

They that want honesty, want anything.

Beau. & Fl.

Nor think, though men were none,
That heaven would want spectators, God want praise.

Milton.

The unhappy never want enemies.

Richardson.

2. To have occasion for, as useful, proper, or requisite; to require; to need; as, in winter we want a fire; in summer we want cooling breezes.

3. To feel need of; to wish or long for; to desire; to crave. " What wants my son?" Addison.

I want to speak to you about something.

A. Trollope.

Want intransitive verb [ Icelandic vanta to be wanting. See Want to lack.]

1. To be absent; to be deficient or lacking; to fail; not to be sufficient; to fall or come short; to lack; -- often used impersonally with of ; as, it wants ten minutes of four.

The disposition, the manners, and the thoughts are all before it; where any of those are wanting or imperfect, so much wants or is imperfect in the imitation of human life.

Dryden.

2. To be in a state of destitution; to be needy; to lack.

You have a gift, sir (thank your education),
Will never let you want .

B. Jonson.

For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find
What wants in blood and spirits, swelled with wind.

Pope.

» Want was formerly used impersonally with an indirect object. "Him wanted audience." Chaucer.

Wantage noun That which is wanting; deficiency.

Wanting adjective Absent; lacking; missing; also, deficient; destitute; needy; as, one of the twelve is wanting ; I shall not be wanting in exertion.

Wantless adjective Having no want; abundant; fruitful.

Wanton adjective [ Middle English wantoun , contr. from wantowen ; prefix wan- wanting (see Wane , intransitive verb ), hence expressing negation + towen , past participle , Anglo-Saxon togen , past participle of teón to draw, to educate, bring up; hence, properly, ill bred. See Tug , transitive verb ]

1. Untrained; undisciplined; unrestrained; hence, loose; free; luxuriant; roving; sportive. "In woods and wanton wilderness." Spenser. "A wild and wanton herd." Shak.

A wanton and a merry [ friar].

Chaucer.

[ She] her unadorned golden tresses wore
Disheveled, but in wanton ringlets waved.

Milton.

How does your tongue grow wanton in her praise!

Addison.

2. Wandering from moral rectitude; perverse; dissolute. "Men grown wanton by prosperity." Roscommon.

3. Specifically: Deviating from the rules of chastity; lewd; lustful; lascivious; libidinous; lecherous.

Not with wanton looking of folly.

Chaucer.

[ Thou art] froward by nature, enemy to peace,
Lascivious, wanton .

Shak.

4. Reckless; heedless; as, wanton mischief.

Wanton noun
1. A roving, frolicsome thing; a trifler; -- used rarely as a term of endearment.

I am afeard you make a wanton of me.

Shak.

Peace, my wantons ; he will do
More than you can aim unto.

B. Jonson.

2. One brought up without restraint; a pampered pet.

Anything, sir,
That's dry and wholesome; I am no bred wanton .

Beau. & Fl.

3. A lewd person; a lascivious man or woman.

Wanton intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Wantoned ; present participle & verbal noun Wantoning .]

1. To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.

Nature here wantoned as in her prime.

Milton.

How merrily we would sally into the fields, and strip under the first warmth of the sun, and wanton like young dace in the streams!

Lamb.

2. To sport in lewdness; to play the wanton; to play lasciviously.

Wanton transitive verb To cause to become wanton; also, to waste in wantonness. [ Obsolete]

Wantonize intransitive verb To behave wantonly; to frolic; to wanton. [ R.] Lamb.

Wantonly adverb
1. In a wanton manner; without regularity or restraint; loosely; sportively; gayly; playfully; recklessly; lasciviously.

2. Unintentionally; accidentally. [ Obsolete] J. Dee.

Wantonness noun The quality or state of being wanton; negligence of restraint; sportiveness; recklessness; lasciviousness. Gower.

The tumults threatened to abuse all acts of grace, and turn them into wantonness .

Eikon Basilike.

Young gentlemen would be as sad as night
Only for wantonness .

Shak.

Wantrust noun [ Prefix wan- as in wanton + trust .] Failing or diminishing trust; want of trust or confidence; distrust. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Wantwit noun One destitute of wit or sense; a blockhead; a fool. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Wanty noun [ For womb tie , that is, belly...and. See Womb , and Tie .] A surcingle, or strap of leather, used for binding a load upon the back of a beast; also, a leather tie; a short wagon rope. [ Prov. Eng.]

Wany intransitive verb To wane. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Wany adjective
1. Waning or diminished in some parts; not of uniform size throughout; -- said especially of sawed boards or timber when tapering or uneven, from being cut too near the outside of the log.

2. Spoiled by wet; -- said of timber. Halliwell.

Wanze intransitive verb To wane; to wither. [ Obsolete]

Wap transitive verb & i. [ See Whap .] To beat; to whap. [ Obsolete or Prov. Eng.] Sir T. Malory.

Wap noun A blow or beating; a whap. [ Prov. Eng.]

Wapacut noun (Zoology) The American hawk owl. See under Hawk .

Wapatoo noun (Botany) The edible tuber of a species of arrowhead ( Sagittaria variabilis ); -- so called by the Indians of Oregon. [ Written also wappato .]

Waped adjective [ Prov. English wape pale, v., to stupefy, akin to wap to beat. Confer Whap , and Wappened .] Cast down; crushed by misery; dejected. [ Obsolete]

Wapentake noun [ Anglo-Saxon w...penge......c , w...pentāc , from Icelandic vāpnatāk , literally, a weapon taking or weapon touching, hence an expression of assent ("si displicuit sententia fremitu aspernantur; sin placuit frameas concutiunt." Tacitus, "Germania," xi. ). See Weapon , and Take . This name had its origin in a custom of touching lances or spears when the hundreder, or chief, entered on his office. "Cum quis accipiebat præfecturam wapentachii, die statuto in loco ubi consueverant congregari, omnes majores natu contra eum conveniebant, et descendente eo de equo suo, omnes assurgebant ei. Ipse vero, erecta lancea sua, ab omnibus secundum morem fœdus accipiebat; omnes enim quot-quot venissent cum lanceis suis ipsius hastam tangebant, et ita se confirmabant per contactum armorum, pace palam concessa. Wæpnu enim arma sonat; tac , tactus est -- hac de causa totus ille conventus dicitur Wapentac , eo quod per tactum armorum suorum ad invicem confœderati sunt." L Latin Edward Confessor, 33. D. Wilkins. ] In some northern counties of England, a division, or district, answering to the hundred in other counties. Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire are divided into wapentakes, instead of hundreds. [ Written also wapentac .] Selden. Blackstone.

Wapinschaw noun [ Scot. See Weapon , and Show .] An exhibition of arms. according to the rank of the individual, by all persons bearing arms; -- formerly made at certain seasons in each district. [ Scot.] Jamieson. Sir W. Scott.

Wapiti noun [ Probably the Iroquois name. Bartlett .] (Zoology) The American elk ( Cervus Canadensis ). It is closely related to the European red deer, which it somewhat exceeds in size.

» By some writers it is thought to be a variety of the red deer, but it is considered a distinct species by others. It is noted for the large, branching antlers of the male.

Wapp noun [ CF. Prov. English wap to wrap up.] (Nautical) (a) A fair-leader. (b) A rope with wall knots in it with which the shrouds are set taut.

Wappato noun (Botany) See Wapatoo .

Wappened adjective [ Confer Waped , Wapper .] A word of doubtful meaning used once by Shakespeare.

This [ gold] is it

That makes the wappen'd widow wed again.

It is conjectured by some that it is an error for wappered , meaning tremulous or exhausted.

Wapper transitive verb & i. [ freq. of wap , v.; confer dial. German wappern , wippern , to move up and down, to rock.] To cause to shake; to tremble; to move tremulously, as from weakness; to totter. [ Obsolete]

Wapper noun (Zoology) A gudgeon. [ Prov. Eng.]

Wappet noun A small yelping cur. [ Prov. Eng.]

Wapping noun Yelping. [ R.] Fuller.

War adjective Ware; aware. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

War noun [ Middle English & Anglo-Saxon werre ; akin to Old High German werra scandal, quarrel, sedition, werran to confound, mix, Dutch warren , German wirren , ver wirren , to embroil, confound, disturb, and perhaps to English worse ; confer Old French werre war, French querre , of Teutonic origin. Confer Guerrilla , Warrior .]

1. A contest between nations or states, carried on by force, whether for defence, for revenging insults and redressing wrongs, for the extension of commerce, for the acquisition of territory, for obtaining and establishing the superiority and dominion of one over the other, or for any other purpose; armed conflict of sovereign powers; declared and open hostilities.

Men will ever distinguish war from mere bloodshed.

F. W. Robertson.

» As war is the contest of nations or states, it always implies that such contest is authorized by the monarch or the sovereign power of the nation. A war begun by attacking another nation, is called an offensive war, and such attack is aggressive . War undertaken to repel invasion, or the attacks of an enemy, is called defensive .

2. (Law) A condition of belligerency to be maintained by physical force. In this sense, levying war against the sovereign authority is treason.

3. Instruments of war. [ Poetic]

His complement of stores, and total war .

Prior.

4. Forces; army. [ Poetic]

On their embattled ranks the waves return,
And overwhelm their war .

Milton.

5. The profession of arms; the art of war.

Thou art but a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth.

1 Sam. xvii. 33.

6. a state of opposition or contest; an act of opposition; an inimical contest, act, or action; enmity; hostility. "Raised impious war in heaven." Milton.

The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart.

Ps. lv. 21.

Civil war , a war between different sections or parties of the same country or nation. -- Holy war . See under Holy . -- Man of war . (Nautical) See in the Vocabulary. -- Public war , a war between independent sovereign states. -- War cry , a cry or signal used in war; as, the Indian war cry . -- War dance , a dance among savages preliminary to going to war. Among the North American Indians, it is begun by some distinguished chief, and whoever joins in it thereby enlists as one of the party engaged in a warlike excursion. Schoolcraft. -- War field , a field of war or battle. -- War horse , a horse used in war; the horse of a cavalry soldier; especially, a strong, powerful, spirited horse for military service; a charger. -- War paint , paint put on the face and other parts of the body by savages, as a token of going to war. "Wash the war paint from your faces." Longfellow. -- War song , a song of or pertaining to war; especially, among the American Indians, a song at the war dance, full of incitements to military ardor. -- War whoop , a war cry, especially that uttered by the American Indians.

War intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Warred ; present participle & verbal noun Warring .]
1. To make war; to invade or attack a state or nation with force of arms; to carry on hostilities; to be in a state by violence.

Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it.

Isa. vii. 1.

Why should I war without the walls of Troy?

Shak.

Our countrymen were warring on that day!

Byron.

2. To contend; to strive violently; to fight. "Lusts which war against the soul." 1 Pet. ii. 11.

War transitive verb
1. To make war upon; to fight. [ R.]

To war the Scot, and borders to defend.

Daniel.

2. To carry on, as a contest; to wage. [ R.]

That thou . . . mightest war a good warfare.

Tim. i. 18.

War-beaten adjective Warworn.