Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

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WATER-FURROW — WAXY

WATER-FURROW, n. [water and furrow.] In agriculture, a deep furrow made for conducting water from the ground and keeping it dry.

WATER-FURROW, v.t. To plow or open water furrows.

WATER-GAGE, WATER-GUAGE, n. [water and gage.] An instrument for measuring or ascertaining the depth or quantity of water.

WATER-GALL, n.

1. A cavity made in the earth by a torrent of water.

2. An appearance in the rainbow.

WATER-GERMANDER, n. A plant of the genus Teucrium.

WATER-GOD, n. [water and god.] A deity that presides over the water.

WATER-GRUEL, n. [water and gruel.] A liquid food, composed of water and a small portion of meal or other farinaceous substance boiled.

WATER-HAMMER, n. A column of water in a vacuum, which not being supported as in the air, falls against the end of the vessel with a peculiar noise. It may be formed by corking a vessel of water while it is boiling. The vapor condensing as it cools, a vacuum is formed.

WATER-HAIR-GRASS, n. A species of grass, the Aira aquatica.

WATER-HEMP-AGRIMONY, n. A plant of the genus Bidens.

WATER-HEN, n. [water and hen.] A water fowl of the genus Fulica, the gallinula or moorhen; also, a species of Rallus, the soree, inhabiting Virginia and Carolina.

WATER-HOG, n. [water and hog.] A quadruped of South America, the Cavia capybara.

WATER-LAUREL, n. [water and laurel.] A plant.

WATER-LEAF, n. [water and leaf.] A plant of the genus Hydrophyllum.

WATERLESS, a. Destitute of water.

WATER-LEVEL, n. [water and level.] The level formed by the surface of still water.

WATER-LILY, n. [water and lily.] A plant of the genus Nymphaea.

WATER-LINE, n. [water and line.] A horizontal line supposed to be drawn about a ships bottom at the surface of the water. This is higher or lower, according to the depth of water necessary to float her.

WATER-LOGGED, a. [water and log.] Lying like a log on the water. A ship is said to be water-logged, when by leaking and receiving a great quantity of water into her hold, she has become so heavy as not to be manageable by the helm, and to be at the mercy of the waves.

WATERMAN, n. [water and man.] A boatman; a ferryman; a man who manages water-craft.

WATER-MARK, n. [water and mark.] The mark or limit of the rise of a flood.

WATER-MELON, n. [water and melon.] A plant and its fruit, of the genus Cucurbita. This plant requires a warm climate to bring it to perfection. It also requires a dry, sandy, warm soil, and will not grow well in any other. The fruit abounds with a sweetish liquor resembling water in color, and the pulp is remarkably rich and delicious.

WATER-MILL, n. [water and mill.] A mill whose machinery is moved by water, and thus distinguished from a wind-mill.

WATER-MINT. [See Water-calamint.]

WATER-NEWT, n. [water and newt.] An animal of the lizared tribe, [Lacerta aquatica.]

WATER-ORDEAL, n. [water and ordeal.] A judicial trial of persons accused of crimes, by means of water; formerly in use among illiterate and superstitious nations.

WATER-OUZEL, n. [water and ouzel.] A fowl of the genus Sturnus.

The water ouzel is the Turdus cinctus of Latham.

WATER-PARSNEP, n. [water and parsnep.] A plant of the genus Sium.

WATER-POA, n. A species of grass, the Poa aquatica.

WATER-POISE, n. s as z. [water and poise.] An instrument for examining the purity of water.

WATER-POT, n. [water and pot.] A vessel for holding or conveying water, or for sprinkling water on cloth in beaching, or on plants, etc.

WATER-PROOF, a. [water and proof.] Impervious to water; so firm and compact as not to admit water; as water-proof cloth, lether or felt.

WATER-RADISH, n. [water and radish.] A species of water-cresses. Water-cress, a species of Sisymbrium.

WATER-RAIL, n. [water and rail.] A fowl of the genus Rallus.

WATER-RAT, n. [water and rat.] An animal of the genus Mus, which lives in the banks of streams or lakes.

WATER-ROCKET, n. [water and rocket.]

1. A species of water-cresses.

2. A kind of fire-work to be discharged in the water.

WATER-ROT, v.t. [water and rot.] To rot by steeping in water; as, to water-rot hemp or flax.

WATER-ROTTED, pp. Rotted by being steeped in water.

WATER-ROTTING, ppr. Rotting in water.

WATER-SAIL, n. [water and sail.] A small sail used under a studding sail or driver boom.

WATER-SAPPHIRE, n. [water and sapphire.] A kind of blue precious stone.

WATER-SHOOT, n. [water and shoot.] A sprig or shoot from the root or stock of a tree. [Local.]

WATER-SNAKE, n. [water and snake.] A snake that frequents the water.

WATER-SOAK, v.t. [water and soak.] To soak or fill the interstices with water.

WATER-SOAKED, pp. Soaked or having its interstices filled with water; as water-soaked wood; a water soaked hat.

WATER-SOLDIER, n. A plant of the genus Stratiotes.

WATER-SPANIEL, n. [water and spaniel.] A dog so called.

WATER-SPOUT, n. [water and spout.] At sea, a vertical column of water, raised from the surface of the sea and driven furiously by the wind.

WATER-TABLE, n. [water and table.] In architecture, a ledge in the wall of a building, about eighteen or twenty inches from the ground.

WATER-TATH, n. In England, a species of coarse grass growing in wet grounds, and supposed to be injurious to sheep.

WATER-THERMOMETER, n. An instrument for ascertaining the precise degree of cold at which water ceases to be condensed.

WATER-TIGHT, a. [water and tight.] So tight as not to admit water.

WATER-TREFOIL, n. A plant.

WATER-VIOLET, n. [water and violet.] A plant of the genus Hottonia.

WATER-WAY, n. [water and way.] In a ships deck, a piece of timber, forming a channel for conducting water to the scuppers.

WATER-WHEEL, n. [water and wheel.]

1. A wheel moved by water.

2. An engine for raising water from a deep well.

WATER-WILLOW, n. [water and willow.] A plant. [L.]

WATER-WITH, n. [water and with.] A plant.

WATER-WORK, n. [water and work.] Water-works are hydraulic machines or engines, particularly such as form artificial fountains, spouts and the like.

WATER-WORT, n. A plant of the genus Elatine.

WATER, v.t. wauter.

1. To irrigate; to overflow with water, or to wet with water; as, to water land. Showers water the earth.

2. To supply with water. The hilly lands of New England are remarkably well watered with rivers and rivulets.

3. To supply with water for drink; as, to water cattle and horses.

4. To diversify; to wet and calendar; to give a wavy appearance to; as, to water silk.

WATER, v.i. wauter.

1. To shed water or liquid matter. His eyes began to water.

2. To get or take in water. The ship put into port to water.

The mouth waters, a phrase denoting that person has a longing desire.

WATERAGE, n. Money paid for transportation by water.

WATERED, pp. Overspread or sprinkled with water; made wet; supplied with water; made lustrous by being wet and calendered.

WATERER, n. One who waters.

WATERINESS, n. [from watery.] Moisture; humidity; a state of abounding with water.

WATERING, ppr. Overflowing; sprinkling or wetting with water; supplying with water; giving water for drink; giving a way appearance to.

WATERING, n.

1. The act of overflowing or sprinkling with water; the act of supplying with water for drink or other purposes; the act of wetting and calendering for giving luster to, as cloth.

2. The place where water is supplied.

WATERING-PLACE, n. A place to which people resort for mineral water, or for the use of water in some way or other.

WATERING-TROUGH, n. A trough in which cattle and horses drink.

WATERISH, a.

1. Resembling water; thin, as a liquor.

2. Moist; somewhat watery; as waterish land.

WATERISHNESS, n. Thinness, as of a liquor; resemblance to water.

Waterishness, which is like the serosity of our blood.

WATERLESS, a. Destitute of water.

WATERY, a.

1. Resembling water; thin or transparent, as a liquid; as watery humors.

The oily and watery parts of the aliment.

2. Tasteless; insipid; vapid; spiritless; as watery turneps.

3. Wet; abounding with water; as watery land; watery eyes.

4. Pertaining to water; as the watery god.

5. Consisting of water; as a watery desert.

WATTLE, n. [L., a shoot.]

1. Properly, a twig or flexible rod; and hence, a hurdle.

2. The fleshy excrescence that grows under the throat of a cock or turkey, or a like substance on a fish.

3. A rod laid on a roof to support the thatch.

WATTLE, v.t.

1. To bind with twigs.

2. To twist or interweave twigs one with another; to plat; to for a kind of network with flexible branches; as, to wattle a hedge.

WATTLED, pp. Bound or interwoven with twigs.

WATTLING, ppr. Interweaving with twigs.

WAUL, v.i. To cry, as a cat.

WAULING, ppr. Crying, as a cat.

WAVE, n. [G.]

1. A moving swell or volume of water; usually, a swell raised and driven by wind. A pebble thrown into still water produces waves, which form concentric circles, receding from the point where the pebble fell. But waves are generally raised and driven by wind, and the word comprehends any moving swell on the surface of water, from the smallest ripple to the billows of a tempest.

The wave behind impels the wave before.

2. Unevenness; inequality of surface.

3. The line or streak of luster on cloth watered and calendered.

WAVE, v.i.

1. To play loosely; to move like a wave, one way and the other; to float; to undulate.

His purple robes wavd careless to the wind.

2. To be moved, as a signal.

3. To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state.

WAVE, v.t. [See Waver.]

1. To raise into inequalities of surface.

2. To move one way and the other; to brandish; as, to wave the hand; to wave a sword.

3. To waft; to remove any thing floating.

4. To beckon; to direct by a waft or waving motion.

WAVE, v.t.

1. To put off; to cast off; to cast away; to reject; as, to wave good stolen; usually written waive.

2. To quit; to depart from.

He resolved not to wave his way.

3. To put off; to put aside for the present, or to omit to pursue; as, to wave a motion. He offered to wave the subject. [This is the usual sense.]

WAVED, pp.

1. Moved one way and the other; brandished.

2. Put off; omitted.

3. a. In heraldry, indented.

4. Variegated in luster; as waved silk.

5. In botany, undate; rising and falling in waves on the margin, as a leaf.

WAVELESS, a. Free from waves; undisturbed; unagitated; as the waveless sea.

WAVELLITE, n. A mineral, a phosphate or sub-phosphate of alumin; commonly found in crystals, which usually adhere and radiate, forming hemispherical or globular concretions, from a very small size to an inch in diameter. The form of the crystal is usually that of a rhombic prism with dihedral terminations.

WAVE-LOAF, n. [wave and loaf.] A loaf for a wave-offering.

WAVE-OFFERING, n. An offering made with waving towards the four cardinal points. Numbers 18:11.

WAVER, v.i.

1. To play or move to and fro; to move one way and the other.

2. To fluctuate; to be unsettled in opinion; to vacillate; to be undetermined; as, to waver in opinion; to waver in faith.

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Hebrews 10:23.

3. To totter; to reel; to be in danger of falling.

WAVER, n. A name given to a sapling or young timber tree in England.

WAVERER, n. One who wavers; one who is unsettled in doctrine, faith or opinion.

WAVERING, ppr. or a. Fluctuating; being in doubt; undetermined.

WAVERINGNESS, n. State or quality of being wavering.

WAVE-SUBJECTED, a. Subject to be overflowed.

WAVE-WORN, a. [wave and worn.] Worn by the waves.

The shore that oer his wave-worn basis bowd.

WAVING, ppr. Moving as a wave; playing to and fro; brandishing.

WAVY, a. [from wave.]

1. Rising or swelling in waves; full of waves; as the wavy sea.

2. Playing to and fro; undulating.

Let her glad valleys smile with wavy corn.

3. Undulating on the border or on the surface; a botanical use.

Wawes or waes, for waves. [Not in use.]

WAX, n. [G., L.]

1. A thick, viscid, tenacious substance, collected by bees, or excreted from their bodies, and employed in the construction of their cells; usually called bees wax. Its native color is yellow, but it is bleached for candles, etc.

2. A thick tenacious substance excreted in the ear.

3. A substance secreted by certain plants, forming a silvery powder on the leaves and fruit, as in the wax-palm and wax-myrtle.

4. A substance found on the hinder legs of bees, which is supposed to be their food.

5. A substance used in sealing letters; called sealing-wax, or Spanish wax. This is a composition of gum-lacca and resin, colored with some pigment.

6. A thick substance used by shoemakers for rubbing their thread.

WAX, v.t. To smear or rub with wax; as, to wax, a thread or a table.
WAX, v.i. pret. waxed.; pp. waxed or waxen. [G., L., Gr.]

1. To increase in size; to grow; to become larger; as the waxing and the waning moon.

2. To pass from one state to another; to become; as, to wax strong; to wax warm or cold; to wax feeble; to wax hot; to wax old; to wax worse and worse.

WAX-BILL, n. A bird, a species of Loxia.

WAX-CANDLE, n. [wax and candle.] A candle made of wax.

WAX-CHANDLER, n. [wax and chandler.] A maker of wax candles.

WAXED, pp. Smeared or rubbed with wax.

WAXEN, a. Made of wax; as waxen cells.

WAXING, ppr. Growing; increasing; becoming; smearing with wax.

WAXING, n. In chemistry, the preparation of any matter to render it fit for melting; also, the process of stopping out colors in calico-printing.

WAX-MYRTLE, n. The bayberry, or Myrica cerifera, a shrub of North America, the berries of which are covered with a greenish wax, called myrtle wax, or bayberry tallow.

WAX-PALM, n. A species of palm, the Ceroxylon andicola, a native of the Andes, the stem of which is covered with a secretion, consisting of two thirds resin and one third wax.

WAX-WORK, n. Figures formed of wax, in imitation of real beings.

WAXY, a. Soft like wax; resembling wax; viscid; adhesive.