Sunday 13 September 2015

OBSCURE WORDS W

waddy
n. - war-club of aborigines.
  wadi
n. - valley; stream; watercourse drying up in summer; oasis.
  wagon-lit
n. - sleeping compartment of railway train.
  wain
n. - farm wagon. wainwright, n. maker or repairer of carts.
  waldgrave
n. - former German title of count; head forest ranger. waldgravine, n.
wife of a waldgrave.
  wanion
n. - bad luck due to the waning of the moon
  wapentake
n. - subdivision of certain counties; court or bailiff of such area.
  wapiti
n. - elk.
  wappenshaw
n. - muster of men with their weapons formerly held in certain areas
of Scotland.
  warison
n. - bugle call ordering the attack.
  weasand
n. - throat; gullet; wind-pipe.
  Weltanschauung
n. - a comprehensive world view, especially from a specified standpoint
  Weltschmerz
n. - sadness over the evils of the world, especially as an expression
of romantic pessimism
  Wergild
n. - value of a man's life, payable to his family by his murderer.
  wether
n. - castrated ram.
  wharfinger
n. - owner or manager of a wharf.
  whin
n. - gorse. whinchat, n. small brown and buff song-bird.
  whisternefet
n. - a sharp slap
  whitlow
n. - abscess on finger, especially round nail.
  widdershins
adv. - anticlockwise; backwards, in the reverse order or direction to normal.
  widgeon
n. - kind of fresh-water duck with light crown.
  wimble
n. - boring tool, e.g. gimlet, brace and bit.
  wimple
n. - women's head covering worn round neck and chin, as by nuns.
  windage
n. - deflection of projectile by the wind.
  witan
n. - early English King's council.
  witenagemot
n. - early English national council; witan.
  withe
n. - tough, flexible branch or twig, especially one used for binding.
  withernam
n. - taking one thing as reprisal for something else taken previously
  withhold
v. - not give or grant; restrain; deduct; v.i. refrain (from).
  withy
n. - willow; withe.
  wittol
n. - complacent cuckold.
  witzelsucht
n. - emotional state characterized by futile attempts at humor
  wolfram
n. - tungsten.
  wort
n. - infusion of malt before fermentation.
  wroth
adj. - archaic angry.
  wynd
n. - alley.

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