Waterway - Wax

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Water vine (?). (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Phytocrene, climbing shrubs of Asia and Africa, the stems of which are singularly porous, and when cut stream with a limpid potable juice.
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Water violet (?). (Bot.) See under .
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Water viper (?). (Zoöl.) See .
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Water vole (?). (Zoöl.) See under .
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Water wagtail (?). See under .
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Waterway (?), n. (Naut.) Heavy plank or timber extending fore and aft the whole length of a vessel's deck at the line of junction with the sides, forming a channel to the scuppers, which are cut through it. In iron vessels the waterway is variously constructed.
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Water way. Same as .
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Waterweed (?), n. (Bot.) See .
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Water wheel (?). 1. Any wheel for propelling machinery or for other purposes, that is made to rotate by the direct action of water; -- called an overshot wheel when the water is applied at the top, an undershot wheel when at the bottom, a breast wheel when at an intermediate point; other forms are called reaction wheel, vortex wheel, turbine wheel, etc.
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2. The paddle wheel of a steam vessel.
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3. A wheel for raising water; a noria, or the like.
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Water willow (?). (Bot.) An American aquatic plant (Dianthera Americana) with long willowlike leaves, and spikes of small purplish flowers.
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Water wing (?). (Arch.) One of two walls built on either side of the junction of a bridge with the bank of a river, to protect the abutment of the bridge and the bank from the action of the current.
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Water witch (?). (Zoöl.) (a) The dabchick. (b) The stormy petrel. [Prov. Eng.]
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Water-withe (?), n. (Bot.) A vinelike plant (Vitis Caribæa) growing in parched districts in the West Indies, and containing a great amount of sap which is sometimes used for quenching thirst.
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Waterwork (?), n. 1. (Paint.) Painting executed in size or distemper, on canvas or walls, -- formerly, frequently taking the place of tapestry. Shak. Fairholt.
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2. An hydraulic apparatus, or a system of works or fixtures, by which a supply of water is furnished for useful or ornamental purposes, including dams, sluices, pumps, aqueducts, distributing pipes, fountains, etc.; -- used chiefly in the plural.
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Waterworn (?), a. Worn, smoothed, or polished by the action of water; as, waterworn stones.
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Waterwort (?), n. (Bot.) Any plant of the natural order Elatineæ, consisting of two genera (Elatine, and Bergia), mostly small annual herbs growing in the edges of ponds. Some have a peppery or acrid taste.
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Watery (?), a. [AS. wæterig.]
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1. Of or pertaining to water; consisting of water. “The watery god.” Dryden. “Fish within their watery residence.” Milton.
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2. Abounding with water; wet; hence, tearful.
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3. Resembling water; thin or transparent, as a liquid; as, watery humors.
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The oily and watery parts of the aliment. Arbuthnot.
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4. Hence, abounding in thin, tasteless, or insipid fluid; tasteless; insipid; vapid; spiritless.
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Watt (?), n. [From the distinguished mechanician and scientist, James Watt.] (Physics) A unit of power or activity equal to 107 C.G.S. units of power, or to work done at the rate of one joule a second. An English horse power is approximately equal to 746 watts.
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Watteau (?), a. (Art) Having the appearance of that which is seen in pictures by Antoine Watteau, a French painter of the eighteenth century; -- said esp. of women's garments; as, a Watteau bodice.
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Watteau back. The back of a woman's gown in which one or more very broad folds are carried from the neck to the floor without being held in at the waist, while the front and sides of the gown are shaped to the person and have a belt or its equivalent.
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Wattmeter (?), n. [Watt + meter.] (Physics) An instrument for measuring power in watts, -- much used in measuring the energy of an electric current.
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Wattle (?), n. [AS. watel, watul, watol, hurdle, covering, wattle; cf. OE. watel a bag. Cf. .]
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1. A twig or flexible rod; hence, a hurdle made of such rods.
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And there he built with wattles from the marsh
A little lonely church in days of yore. Tennyson.
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2. A rod laid on a roof to support the thatch.
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3. (Zoöl.) (a) A naked fleshy, and usually wrinkled and highly colored, process of the skin hanging from the chin or throat of a bird or reptile. (b) Barbel of a fish.
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4. (a) The astringent bark of several Australian trees of the genus Acacia, used in tanning; -- called also wattle bark.
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5. Material consisting of wattled twigs, withes, etc., used for walls, fences, and the like. “The pailsade of wattle.” Frances Macnab.
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6. (Bot.) In Australasia, any tree of the genus Acacia; -- so called from the wattles, or hurdles, which the early settlers made of the long, pliable branches or of the split stems of the slender species. The bark of such trees is also called wattle. See also Savanna wattle, under .
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Coloq. Wattle turkey . (Zoöl.) Same as .
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Wattle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wattled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Wattling (?).]
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1. To bind with twigs.
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2. To twist or interweave, one with another, as twigs; to form a network with; to plat; as, to wattle branches.
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3. To form, by interweaving or platting twigs.
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The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes. Milton.
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Wattlebird (?), n. 1. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of honey eaters belonging to Anthochæra and allied genera of the family Meliphagidæ. These birds usually have a large and conspicuous wattle of naked skin hanging down below each ear. They are natives of Australia and adjacent islands.
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☞ The best-known species (Anthochæra carunculata) has the upper parts grayish brown, with a white stripe on each feather, and the wing and tail quills dark brown or blackish, tipped with withe. Its wattles, in life, are light blood-red. Called also wattled crow, wattled bee-eater, wattled honey eater. Another species (Anthochæra inauris) is streaked with black, gray, and white, and its long wattles are white, tipped with orange. The bush wattlebirds, belonging to the genus Anellobia, are closely related, but lack conspicuous wattles. The most common species (Anthochæra mellivora) is dark brown, finely streaked with white. Called also goruck creeper.
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2. (Zoöl.) The Australian brush turkey.
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Wattled (?), a. Furnished with wattles, or pendent fleshy processes at the chin or throat.
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The wattled cocks strut to and fro. Longfellow.
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Wattless (?), a. (Elec.) Without any power (cf. ); -- said of an alternating current or component of current when it differs in phase by ninety degrees from the electromotive force which produces it, or of an electromotive force or component thereof when the current it produces differs from it in phase by 90 degrees.
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Wattling (?), n. The act or process of binding or platting with twigs; also, the network so formed.
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Made with a wattling of canes or sticks. Dampier.
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{ Waucht, Waught } (?), n. [Cf. .] A large draught of any liquid. [Scot.] Jamieson.
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Waul (?), v. i. [Of imitative origin.] To cry as a cat; to squall; to wail. [Written also wawl.]
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The helpless infant, coming wauling and crying into the world. Sir W. Scott.
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Waur (w�r), a. [See .] Worse. [Scot.]
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Murder and waur than murder. Sir W. Scott.
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Wave (wāv), v. t. See . Sir H. Wotton. Burke.
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Wave, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Waved (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Waving.] [OE. waven, AS. wafian to waver, to hesitate, to wonder; akin to wæfre wavering, restless, MHG. wabern to be in motion, Icel. vafra to hover about; cf. Icel. vāfa to vibrate. Cf. , .]
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1. To play loosely; to move like a wave, one way and the other; to float; to flutter; to undulate.
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His purple robes waved careless to the winds. Trumbull.
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Where the flags of three nations has successively waved. Hawthorne.
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2. To be moved to and fro as a signal. B. Jonson.
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3. To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state; to vacillate. [Obs.]
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He waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good nor harm. Shak.
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Wave, v. t. 1. To move one way and the other; to brandish. “[Æneas] waved his fatal sword.” Dryden.
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2. To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form a surface to.
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Horns whelked and waved like the enridged sea. Shak.
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3. To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.
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4. To call attention to, or give a direction or command to, by a waving motion, as of the hand; to signify by waving; to beckon; to signal; to indicate.
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Look, with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removed ground. Shak.
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She spoke, and bowing waved
Dismissal. Tennyson.
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Wave, n. [From , v.; not the same word as OE. wawe, waghe, a wave, which is akin to E. wag to move. √138. See , v. i.]
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1. An advancing ridge or swell on the surface of a liquid, as of the sea, resulting from the oscillatory motion of the particles composing it when disturbed by any force their position of rest; an undulation.
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The wave behind impels the wave before. Pope.
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2. (Physics) A vibration propagated from particle to particle through a body or elastic medium, as in the transmission of sound; an assemblage of vibrating molecules in all phases of a vibration, with no phase repeated; a wave of vibration; an undulation. See .
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3. Water; a body of water. [Poetic] “Deep drank Lord Marmion of the wave.” Sir W. Scott.
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Build a ship to save thee from the flood,
I 'll furnish thee with fresh wave, bread, and wine. Chapman.
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4. Unevenness; inequality of surface. Sir I. Newton.
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5. A waving or undulating motion; a signal made with the hand, a flag, etc.
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6. The undulating line or streak of luster on cloth watered, or calendered, or on damask steel.
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7. Something resembling or likened to a water wave, as in rising unusually high, in being of unusual extent, or in progressive motion; a swelling or excitement, as of feeling or energy; a tide; flood; period of intensity, usual activity, or the like; as, a wave of enthusiasm; waves of applause.
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Coloq. Wave front (Physics), the surface of initial displacement of the particles in a medium, as a wave of vibration advances. -- Coloq. Wave length (Physics), the space, reckoned in the direction of propagation, occupied by a complete wave or undulation, as of light, sound, etc.; the distance from a point or phase in a wave to the nearest point at which the same phase occurs. -- Coloq. Wave line (Shipbuilding), a line of a vessel's hull, shaped in accordance with the wave-line system. -- Coloq. Wave-line system , Coloq. Wave-line theory (Shipbuilding), a system or theory of designing the lines of a vessel, which takes into consideration the length and shape of a wave which travels at a certain speed. -- Coloq. Wave loaf , a loaf for a wave offering. Lev. viii. 27. -- Coloq. Wave moth (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of small geometrid moths belonging to Acidalia and allied genera; -- so called from the wavelike color markings on the wings. -- Coloq. Wave offering , an offering made in the Jewish services by waving the object, as a loaf of bread, toward the four cardinal points. Num. xviii. 11. -- Coloq. Wave of vibration (Physics), a wave which consists in, or is occasioned by, the production and transmission of a vibratory state from particle to particle through a body. -- Coloq. Wave surface . (a) (Physics) A surface of simultaneous and equal displacement of the particles composing a wave of vibration. (b) (Geom.) A mathematical surface of the fourth order which, upon certain hypotheses, is the locus of a wave surface of light in the interior of crystals. It is used in explaining the phenomena of double refraction. See under . -- Coloq. Wave theory . (Physics) See Undulatory theory, under .
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Waved (?), a. 1. Exhibiting a wavelike form or outline; undulating; intended; wavy; as, waved edge.
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2. Having a wavelike appearance; marked with wavelike lines of color; as, waved, or watered, silk.
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3. (Her.) Having undulations like waves; -- said of one of the lines in heraldry which serve as outlines to the ordinaries, etc.
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Waveless (?), a. Free from waves; undisturbed; not agitated; as, the waveless sea.
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Wavelet (?), n. A little wave; a ripple.
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Wavellite (?), n. [After Dr. Wm. Wavel, the discoverer.] (Min.) A hydrous phosphate of alumina, occurring usually in hemispherical radiated forms varying in color from white to yellow, green, or black.
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Waver (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wavered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Wavering.] [OE. waveren, from AS. wæfre wavering, restless. See , v. i.]
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1. To play or move to and fro; to move one way and the other; hence, to totter; to reel; to swing; to flutter.
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With banners and pennons wavering with the wind. Ld. Berners.
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Thou wouldst waver on one of these trees as a terror to all evil speakers against dignities. Sir W. Scott.
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2. To be unsettled in opinion; to vacillate; to be undetermined; to fluctuate; as, to water in judgment.
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Let us hold fast . . . without wavering. Heb. x. 23.
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In feeble hearts, propense enough before
To waver, or fall off and join with idols. Milton.
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Syn. -- To reel; totter; vacillate. See .
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Waver, n. [From , or , v.] A sapling left standing in a fallen wood. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.
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Waverer (?), n. One who wavers; one who is unsettled in doctrine, faith, opinion, or the like. Shak.
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Waveringly, adv. In a wavering manner.
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Waveringness, n. The quality or state of wavering.
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Waveson (?), n. [From ; cf. .] (O. Eng. Law) Goods which, after shipwreck, appear floating on the waves, or sea.
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Wave-worn (?), a. Worn by the waves.
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The shore that o'er his wave-worn basis bowed. Shak.
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Wavey (?), n. (Zoöl.) The snow goose. [Canadian, & Local U. S.]
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Waviness (?), n. The quality or state of being wavy.
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Wavure (?), n. See . [R.]
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Wavy (?), a. 1. Rising or swelling in waves; full of waves. “The wavy seas.” Chapman.
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2. Playing to and fro; undulating; as, wavy flames.
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Let her glad valleys smile with wavy corn. Prior.
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3. (Bot.) Undulating on the border or surface; waved.
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Wawaskeesh (?), n. [From an Indian name.] (Zoöl.) The wapiti, or wapiti, or American elk.
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Wawe (w�), n. [See .] Woe. [Obs.]
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Wawe (w�), n. [OE. wawe, waghe; cf. Icel. vāgr; akin to E. wag; not the same word as wave.] A wave. [Obs.] Chaucer. Spenser.
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Wawl (w�l), v. i. See . Shak.
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Wax (wăks), v. i. [imp. Waxed (?); p. p. Waxed, and Obs. or Poetic Waxen (�); p. pr. & vb. n. Waxing.] [AS. weaxan; akin to OFries. waxa, D. wassen, OS. & OHG. wahsan, G. wachsen, Icel. vaxa, Sw. växa, Dan. voxe, Goth. wahsjan, Gr. � to increase, Skr. waksh, uksh, to grow. √135. Cf. .]
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1. To increase in size; to grow bigger; to become larger or fuller; -- opposed to wane.
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The waxing and the waning of the moon. Hakewill.
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Truth's treasures . . . never shall wax ne wane. P. Plowman.
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2. To pass from one state to another; to become; to grow; as, to wax strong; to wax warmer or colder; to wax feeble; to wax old; to wax worse and worse.
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Your clothes are not waxen old upon you. Deut. xxix. 5.
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Where young Adonis oft reposes,
Waxing well of his deep wound. Milton.
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Coloq. Waxing kernels (Med.), small tumors formed by the enlargement of the lymphatic glands, especially in the groins of children; -- popularly so called, because supposed to be caused by growth of the body. Dunglison.
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Wax, n. [AS. weax; akin to OFries. wax, D. was, G. wachs, OHG. wahs, Icel. & Sw. vax, Dan. vox, Lith. vaszkas, Russ. vosk'.]
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1. A fatty, solid substance, produced by bees, and employed by them in the construction of their comb; -- usually called beeswax. It is first excreted, from a row of pouches along their sides, in the form of scales, which, being masticated and mixed with saliva, become whitened and tenacious. Its natural color is pale or dull yellow.
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☞ Beeswax consists essentially of cerotic acid (constituting the more soluble part) and of myricyl palmitate (constituting the less soluble part).
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2. Hence, any substance resembling beeswax in consistency or appearance. Specifically: --
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(a) (Physiol.) Cerumen, or earwax. See .
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(b) A waxlike composition used for uniting surfaces, for excluding air, and for other purposes; as, sealing wax, grafting wax, etching wax, etc.
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(c) A waxlike composition used by shoemakers for rubbing their thread.
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(d) (Zoöl.) A substance similar to beeswax, secreted by several species of scale insects, as the Chinese wax. See Wax insect, below.
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(e) (Bot.) A waxlike product secreted by certain plants. See Vegetable wax, under .
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(f) (Min.) A substance, somewhat resembling wax, found in connection with certain deposits of rock salt and coal; -- called also mineral wax, and ozocerite.
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(g) Thick sirup made by boiling down the sap of the sugar maple, and then cooling. [Local U. S.]
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(h) any of numerous substances or mixtures composed predominantly of the longer-chain saturated hydrocarbons such as the paraffins, which are solid at room teperature, or their alcohol, carboxylic acid, or ester derivatives.
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Coloq. Japanese wax , a waxlike substance made in Japan from the berries of certain species of Rhus, esp. Rhus succedanea. -- Coloq. Mineral wax . (Min.) See , 2 (f), above. -- Coloq. Wax cloth . See Waxed cloth, under . -- Coloq. Wax end . See Waxed end, under . -- Coloq. Wax flower , a flower made of, or resembling, wax. -- Coloq. Wax insect (Zoöl.), any one of several species of scale insects belonging to the family Coccidæ, which secrete from their bodies a waxlike substance, especially the Chinese wax insect (Coccus Sinensis) from which a large amount of the commercial Chinese wax is obtained. Called also pela. -- Coloq. Wax light , a candle or taper of wax. -- Coloq. Wax moth (Zoöl.), a pyralid moth (Galleria cereana) whose larvæ feed upon honeycomb, and construct silken galleries among the fragments. The moth has dusky gray wings streaked with brown near the outer edge. The larva is yellowish white with brownish dots. Called also bee moth. -- Coloq. Wax myrtle . (Bot.) See . -- Coloq. Wax painting , a kind of painting practiced by the ancients, under the name of encaustic. The pigments were ground with wax, and diluted. After being applied, the wax was melted with hot irons and the color thus fixed. -- Coloq. Wax palm . (Bot.) (a) A species of palm (Ceroxylon Andicola) native of the Andes, the stem of which is covered with a secretion, consisting of two thirds resin and one third wax, which, when melted with a third of fat, makes excellent candles. (b) A Brazilian tree (Copernicia cerifera) the young leaves of which are covered with a useful waxy secretion. -- Coloq. Wax paper , paper prepared with a coating of white wax and other ingredients. -- Coloq. Wax plant (Bot.), a name given to several plants, as: (a) The Indian pipe (see under ). (b) The Hoya carnosa, a climbing plant with polished, fleshy leaves. (c) Certain species of Begonia with similar foliage. -- Coloq. Wax tree (Bot.) (a) A tree or shrub (Ligustrum lucidum) of China, on which certain insects make a thick deposit of a substance resembling white wax. (b) A kind of sumac (Rhus succedanea) of Japan, the berries of which yield a sort of wax. (c) A rubiaceous tree (Elæagia utilis) of New Grenada, called by the inhabitants “arbol del cera.” -- Coloq. Wax yellow , a dull yellow, resembling the natural color of beeswax.
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