W.
This initial interchanges frequently with gu:—as ward, guard; wicket, guichet, &c.
Wafters, O. E. Blunted swords for exercise.
Wain, O. E. A wagon.
Wainscot, Arch, (from the German Wand-Schotten, wall-covering), wooden panelling used to line the inner walls.
Waist. The central part of the upper deck of a ship, between the fore and main masts.
Wait. An old English wind instrument resembling the Shawm (q.v.). It was used by the watchmen or waights, to proclaim the time of night.
Waka-tana. The war canoe of New Zealand; some of these are fifty feet long, by four feet beam, with a high stern-post. This and the carved prow are both richly decorated with a profusion of feathers. (Simmonds.)
Wakes (A.S. wæcan). Originally vigils or eves of Saints’ days. The late-wake of the Highlanders; the lyke-wake of the early English, and the wake of the Irish are the remains of the ancient northern custom of watching the body of a deceased friend before burial. (Consult Brand’s Popular Antiquities.)
Wales. The strong side planks of the body of a ship, running fore and aft.
Walking-sticks. (See Bourdon.) (See also Fig. [91].) Fairholt (Costume in England) gives the following quotation from an inventory of Greenwich Palace, temp. Henry VIII.
“A cane, garnished with sylver and gilte, with astronomie upon it. A cane, garnished with golde, having a perfume in the toppe, under that a diall, with a pair of twitchers, and a pair of compasses of golde, and a foot rule of golde, a knife and a file the haft of golde, with a whetstone tipped with golde.”
Under Charles II. bunches of ribands on the tops of canes were fashionable.
Wall Painting. The Greek temples were brilliantly decorated with painting and gilding internally. “The method has been investigated and is described to be the colouring of the body of the wall of a pale yellow or golden colour, the triglyphs and mutules blue, the metopes and the tympanum red, and some other portions of the building green, and varying these tints or using them of greater or less intensity as the judgment of the artist dictated.” (Hittorf, Essay on the Polychromy of Greek Architecture.) The colouring of the Egyptian bas-reliefs is familiar. The buildings of Herculaneum and Pompeii were decorated with frescoes and mosaics, in the Augustan age of Roman art. In the Middle Ages the custom was continued of decorating with colour the architecture of sacred edifices; and many old palaces and mansions in England show relics of the practice of decorating the walls with tempera, especially under Henry III. (See Frescoes, Stereochromy, Water-work, &c.)
Fig. 696. Wallet—Badge of the Gueux.
Wallet. The badge of the Gueux; two hands clasped through the handles of a beggar’s wallet. (See Gueux.)
Wall-plates, in building. Horizontal timbers, called plates, properly those at the top of a building under the roof.
Walled, Muraillée, Her. Made to represent brick or stone-work.
Walling Wax. The composition with which etchers make a wall round the plate upon which they are proceeding to pour the acid. (See Engraving.)
Walnut, Chr. In Christian iconography the walnut is the symbol of perfection. (See Nut.)
Walnut Oil. (See Nut Oil.)
Wambais (Saxon wambe, the belly). A stuffing of wool in the quilted tunic or Gambeson. The best illustration is the conventional figure of Punch.
Wampum, North American Indian. Strings of shells worn as belts and used for money.
Wang, Chinese. Yellow. The sacred colour.
Wapentake, O. E. A hundred, or district. The term is derived from weapon-taking (or counting).
Wapinshaw, O. E. A review of weapons.
“Et fiat visus armorum, quod dicitur Wapinschaw.”
(Scotch Statute.)
Wappenrock, Germ. A military cloak, with armorial charges. (See Tabard.)
Ward, of a castle. The Bailey or courtyard. (See Ballium.)
Warnbrace. (See Vaunt-brace.)
Wassail or Wassel, O. E. (Saxon waes hael, “to your health.”), (1) A drinking-bout generally. (2) A drink made of roasted apples.
Watchet, O. E. Pale blue.
“The saphyre stone is of a watchet blue.”
(Barnfield’s Affectionate Shepherd, 1594.)
Water, of a diamond; its lustre.
Water-colour Painting was gradually raised from the hard dry style of the last century to its present brilliancy, by the efforts of Nicholson, Copley Fielding, Sandby, Varley, the great Turner, Pyne, Cattermole, Prout, &c., within the present century. The Water Colour Society’s Exhibition was begun in 1805. (Haydn’s Dict. of Dates.)
Water-Colours. The principal are lemon yellow, gamboge, Indian yellow, yellow ochre, chrome, vermilion, light red, Indian red, rose madder, carmine, purple madder, Vandyke-brown, sepia, brown pink, sap-green, emerald green, indigo, ultramarine, smalt, and cobalt.
Water-gilding. Gilding with a thin coat of amalgam.
Water-mark, on paper. A device resembling a transparency in the texture, which is printed during the process of manufacture, by means of wire or brass plates on the mould of the paper machine.
Water-scape. A fanciful term sometimes used to distinguish a sea view from a landscape.
Water-table, Arch. A horizontal set-off in a wall, sloped to throw off the wet.
Water-work, O. E. Wall painting in distemper.
“A pretty slight drollery, or the German hunting in waterwork, is worth a thousand of these bed-hangings, and these fly-bitten tapestries.” (Shakespeare.)
Watered (silk) having a shaded or diversified surface; produced by placing two pieces of silk lengthways between metallic rollers, where they are subjected to different degrees of pressure.
Watteau Pictures. Idyllic scenes of imaginary Arcadian enjoyment, and a certain fanciful style of costume characteristic of Watteau’s pictures, called in French “scènes de la vie galante.”
Wattle. An Australian name for various woods of the Acacia species.
Wattled, Her. Having a comb and gills, as a cock.
Wayn-cloutt, O. E. A waggon-cloth.
Wax. Bleached bees’-wax is the vehicle in encaustic painting.
Wax painting. (See Encaustic Painting.)
Weathercock. (See Fane.)
Weathering, Arch. The slope of flat surfaces, for drainage.
Webbing Tape. A kind of broad tape.
Fig. 697. Wedgwood Vase.
Wedgwood Ware. The manufacture of Josiah Wedgwood begun in 1759, at Etruria, in Staffordshire. A fine white, cream-coloured ware, having a clear and hard body, with more compact glaze and more perfect substance than the majolica. Many of the groups on Wedgwood vases and plaques were designed by Flaxman. (Fig. [697].)
Weepers, O. E. Statues in niches round tombs, representing the mourners.
Welding. The union of two pieces of metal together, by heat and pressure.
Welkin. The sky; hence welkin eyes, blue eyes. (Shakspeare.)
Well-staircase. A spiral staircase. (See Newel.)
Welsh Hook. A mediæval weapon, a kind of bill with a hook at the back, used to drag a horse-soldier from his saddle.
Welt. A joint or fold in a texture. The term is variously explained as synonymous with guard, a facing to a gown; or purfles, i. e. fringes. (Consult Fairholt, s.v.)
Welted Brocades and Quilts. Articles with folds in the texture; lined and ribbed.
Weued, A.S. The altar.
“In chvrche to vore the heye weued Constantyn hym sleu.”
(Robert of Gloucester.)
Whalebone is the commercial name for the baleen plates found in the mouth of the whale, of which there are about 300 in each animal.
What-not. A modern piece of furniture, a light side-board or stand.
Wheel. In Christian art, the attribute of St. Catherine, in allusion to the manner of her martyrdom.
Wheel, Catherine Wheel. Represented in heraldry with curved spikes projecting from its rim.
Wheel Engraving upon Glass. (See Glass.)
Wheel-lock. A crude invention in gunnery, of the 16th century, for winding up the trigger of a gun with a hand-winch.
Whinyard, O. E. A sword.
Whipping-tops are represented in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts; the thongs of the whips are knotted, which would add to the difficulty of the game.
Fig. 698. Falling “Whisk.”
Whisk, O. E. A ruff or band.
“A woman’s nec whisk is used both plain and laced, and is called of most a gorget or falling whisk, because it falleth about the shoulders.” (Randle Holme.)
Whisket, O. E. A basket. S.
Whistle. Prehistoric specimens of whistles made of bones have been disinterred among relics of the Stone Age. The Mexicans in antiquity made curiously grotesque whistles of baked clay representing caricatures of the human face and figure, birds, beasts, and flowers. (Consult Musical Instruments by Carl Engel.)
White, in Christian art represented by the diamond or silver, was the emblem of light, religious purity, innocence, virginity, faith, joy, and life. (J.)
White is in theory the result of the union of the three primary colours. The principal white pigments are white lead, Lake white, Krems white, zinc white, constant white (q.v.). (See Carbonate of Lead, Oxide of Zinc, &c.)
White Copper. German silver.
White Lead is the white pigment universally used for oil painting; it is considered a good dryer, and is used to render oil more drying. (Consult Merrifield’s Treatise, &c., vol. i. cl.). (See Carbonate of Lead.)
White Vitriol. Sulphate of Zinc (q.v.).
Whiting, as used for wall painting, &c., is pure chalk, cleansed and ground with water.
Whittle, O. E. A pocket clasp knife. (Shakspeare.)
Whole and Halves. Proportional compasses used for the enlargement or reduction of drawings.
Whorler. The wheel of a potter’s lathe.
Wicker-work. Texture of osiers, or small twigs; basket-work.
Wicket (Fr. Guichet). A small door perforated in a larger one.
Wigs (contraction of Periwigs, from Fr. perruque) were brought in from France in the 16th century. They took their greatest proportions in the time of Louis XIV. In the early 18th century also they are described as of immense size, “large enough to have loaded a camel.” And of this date is the celebrated wig-maker’s sign, in which Absalom was represented hanging by the hair in a tree, and King David weeping beneath, exclaiming,—
“O Absalom! O Absalom!
O Absalom, my son!
If thou hadst worn a periwig
Thou hadst not been undone.”
Smaller varieties were called perukes or travelling-wigs; and the campaign wig, which “hath knots or bobs, a dildo on each side with a curled forehead.” These dildos or pole-locks were the origin of the pigtail. (See Hair.)
Wilton Carpets are a kind of Brussels carpeting, with the yarns cut.
Wimple, O. E. A nun’s hood, covering the neck and shoulders, adopted by ladies in general, temp. Henry VII.
Winchester Bushel. An ancient standard measure of capacity preserved in the Town Hall at Winchester. It dates from the reign of King Edgar. It is 18½ inches wide, and 8 inches deep.
Windows. The earliest of stained glass in Italy were painted by order of Pope Leo III., at Rome, in 795. The windows of some churches were closed with valves or shutters of stone, like those of the Duomo of Torcello, erected in 1008. Others were filled with slabs of transparent talc or alabaster. The earliest painted glass in York Cathedral is of A. D. 1200. The use of glass windows in private houses was not general until the 14th century. During the Middle Ages glass windows were in movable wooden frames, and were taken away by families when they travelled. (Consult Hallam’s Middle Ages, vol. iii.) Substitutes for glass were thin parchment or linen, painted and varnished, or even paper. (Le Vieil, de la Peinture sur Verre.) These paper windows may still be seen in villages in the north of Italy.
Winds (Latin, Venti). The impersonations of the winds were held in high veneration, especially by the Athenians. The four principal were Eurus or Vulturnus, the east or south-east wind; Auster, the south wind, the Notus of the Greeks, pernicious to plants and men; Zephyrus, the son of Aurora and father of Carpus (fruit), a genial, health-bearing breeze, called also ζωηφόρος, life-bearing; and Boreas, the strong north wind, usually represented with the feet of a serpent, his wings dripping with golden dewdrops, and the train of his garment sweeping along the ground. Inferior winds were Solanus, in Greek Apeliotes, answering to the east, and represented as a young man holding fruit in his lap; Africus, south-west, represented with black wings and melancholy countenance; Corus, north-west, drives clouds of snow before him; Aquilo, north-east by north, equally dreadful in appearance, from aquila, an eagle, type of swiftness and impetuosity.
Windsor Chairs. A plain kind of strong wooden chairs, so called.
Wings, from time immemorial, have been the Oriental and Egyptian symbol of power as well as of swiftness; of the spiritual and aerial, in contradistinction to the human and the earthly; also in Chaldaic and Babylonian remains, in the Lycian and Nineveh marbles, and on the gems and other relics of the Gnostics. In Etruscan art all their divinities are winged.
Wings, in theatres. The shifting side-scenes on the stage. In costume, the projections on the shoulders of a doublet. (See Fig. [91].)
Wise Men, Chr. The Magi. (See Epiphany.)
Wisp, O. E. A broom.
Woad. A dye plant—Isatis tinctoria.
Wolf. In Egypt was worshipped at Lycopolis; it figures frequently among hieroglyphic signs. The Greeks had consecrated the wolf to Apollo, the Romans to Mars. In Christian (especially Spanish) art, an attribute of St. Vincent, in allusion to the legend that wild beasts were driven away from his body after his martyrdom, by a raven.
Fig. 699. Carved-wood mirror frame, belonging to Lord Stafford at Costessy.
Wood-carving. One of the most ancient manifestations of the art instinct of humanity is found in the very earliest relics of every nation. Especially in Egypt specimens remarkable for fidelity of representation have been recently disinterred, and stand in the Boulac Museum. Among Christian countries Germany is the most distinguished in this branch of art, but Holland and Belgium closely rival it in excellence and abundance of early specimens. Illustrious English carvers in wood were mostly of Dutch or German extraction. The most famous of them is Grinling Gibbons, employed by Sir Christopher Wren in the decoration of St. Paul’s Cathedral. He excelled in carving flowers and foliage.
Wood-engraving or Xylography. Box-wood is the only kind that can be used. The blocks when smoothed and polished are prepared for drawing on, by rubbing the polished surface with bath brick in very fine powder mixed with water. When this thin coating is dry, it is removed by rubbing the block on the palm of the hand; its only use is to make the surface less slippery. There are four descriptions of cutting tools used in wood-engraving. The graver is not very different from that used for copper-plate, but has the point ground to a peculiar form by rubbing on a Turkey stone. Eight or nine gravers, of different sizes, are generally required commencing with a very fine one, which is called the outline tool, and increasing in size or breadth. Tinting is cutting series of parallel lines, which, when engraved, form an even and uniform tint. For this process there is a distinct set of tools called tinting tools. Gouges of different sizes are used for scooping out the wood towards the centre of the block, and flat tools or chisels for cutting it away towards the edges. The earliest known wood-engraving, “The Virgin surrounded by four Saints,” is dated 1418. A print of it is in the Brussels Museum.
Wood-skin. An American name for a large canoe made of bark.
Woof. The weft, or cross-texture of fabrics.
Woolsack. The seat of the Lord Chancellor, in the House of Lords.
Working Drawings (Arch.) are enlarged portions of plans with details of a building, for the practical artificers to work from.
Worsted (properly Worstead, spelt also “worsett” and “woryst”) was the name given to the cloth woven of the hard thread produced by the peculiar carding process that was invented at Worstead in Norfolk; 14th century.
Wou or Wouwou, Egyp. The Egyptian name for the dog; it is evidently an onomatopœia, like the name for a cat, which is written Maaou. (See Canis.)
Wreath. Wreaths have at all times been prominent among symbolical personal ornaments; always with an honourable or pleasant signification; wreaths of ivy distinguished the votaries of Bacchus; appropriate wreaths were invented for sacrifices at the altar for heroic or priestly or literary distinction. (See Orle, Crest, Wreath, &c.)
Wrest, O. E. An instrument for drawing up the strings of a harp. (Shakespeare.)
Wyn, O. E. A narrow flag.
Fig. 700. Wyvern.
Wyvern, Wivern, Her. A fabulous creature, a species of dragon with two legs, and represented having its tail nowed. (Fig. [700].)