Way, wā, n. passage: road: length of space: distance: direction: manner of life: condition, state: advance in life: general manner of acting: means: manner: will: (naut.) progress or motion through the water, headway.—v.i. (Spens.) to journey.—ns. Way′-bag′gage (U.S.), baggage to be laid down at a way-station; Way′-bill, list of passengers and goods carried by a coach; Way′-board, Weigh′-board, a thin stratum or seam separating thicker strata; Way′bread, the common plantain.—v.i. Way′fāre, to travel on foot.—n. Way′fārer, a traveller or passenger.—adj. Way′fāring, travelling or passing.—n. Way′fāring-tree, the Viburnum lantana, a large shrub common in British hedges.—adjs. Way′-gō′ing, departing; Way′gone, exhausted by travelling.—v.t. Way′lay, to lie in the way for: to watch or lie in ambush for.—n. Waylay′er.—adj. Way′less, without a path.—ns. Way′-māk′er, a pioneer, path-finder; Way′-mark, -post, guide-post; Way′-pass′enger, one taken up or set down by the way; Way′-side, the side of a way, path, or highway.—adj. growing or lying near the way-side.—ns. Way′-slid′ing (rare), a wandering from the right way; Way′-stā′tion, an intermediate station between principal stations on a railway; Way′-this′tle, the Canada thistle; Way′-traff′ic, local traffic, as distinguished from through or express traffic; Way′-train (U.S.), a train stopping at most of the stations on a line.—adj. Way′ward, froward: wilful: irregular.—n. Way′-war′den, a keeper of roads.—adv. Way′wardly.—n. Way′wardness.—adj. Way′worn, worn-out by travel.—n. Right′-of-way (see Right).—Way of the Cross, a series of pictorial representations representing the stages of Christ's progress to Calvary: devotions used in connection with these stages; Ways and means, resources: methods of raising money for the carrying on of government.—Be under way, Have way (naut.), to be in progress, as a vessel; By the way, as we go on; By way of, as for the purpose of: in character of; Come one's way, to come in one's direction; Committee of ways and means, the House of Commons in its capacity of raising the supplies; Give way (see Give); Go one's way (see Go); Go the way of all the earth, to die; Have one's way, to carry one's point or wish; In a small way, on a petty scale; In the family way (see Family); In the way, on the way: impeding, obstructing; In the way of, in a good position for effecting something: in respect of; Lead the way, to act as a guide in any movement; Make one's way, to push one's self forward; Make way, to give room: to advance; On the way, in progress; Out of the way, so as not to hinder or obstruct: away from the ordinary course: unusual: (Shak.) lost, hidden; Put one's self out of the way, to give one's self trouble; Take one's way, to set out: to follow one's own inclination or plan; The Way, the Christian Religion (Acts ix. 2, &c.). [A.S. weg; Ger. weg, L. via, Sans. vaha, akin to vehĕre, to carry.]
Waygoose, wā′gōōs, n. a printers' annual dinner or picnic, formerly one given by an apprentice to his fellow-workmen, at which a wase-goose or stubble-goose was the great dish.—Also Wase′-goose, Wayz′-goose.
Wayment, wā-ment′, v.t. and v.i. (Spens.) to lament, grieve.—n. (Spens.) lamentation, grief. [O. Fr. waimenter—L. lamentāri, to lament.]
We, wē, pron.pl. of I: I and others. [A.S. wé; cog. with Goth. weis, Ger. wir.]
Weak, wēk, adj. soft: wanting strength and vigour: not able to sustain a great weight: wanting health: easily overcome: feeble of mind: wanting moral or mental force: frail: unsteady: slight or incomplete: having little of the chief ingredient: impressible: inconclusive: (Shak.) inconsiderable: (gram.) of a verb inflected by regular syllabic addition instead of by change of the main vowel: tending downward in price.—adj. Weak′-built (Shak.), ill-founded.—v.t. Weak′en, to make weak: to reduce in strength or spirit.—v.i. to grow weak or weaker.—n. Weak′ener, one who or that which weakens.—adjs. Weak′-eyed, having weak eyes or sight; Weak′-hand′ed, powerless; Weak′-head′ed, having a feeble intellect; Weak′-heart′ed (Shak.), of weak or feeble heart or spirit; Weak′-hinged, ill-balanced; Weak′-kneed, having weak knees: weak in will.—n. Weak′ling, a weak or feeble creature.—adv. Weak′ly.—adj. Weak′-mind′ed, of feeble powers of mind.—ns. Weak′-mind′edness; Weak′ness.—adjs. Weak′-sight′ed, having feeble eyesight; Weak′-spir′ited, bearing wrong tamely, cowardly.—Weaker sex, women; Weaker vessel (see Vessel).—Weak side, point, that side or point in which a person is most easily influenced or most liable to temptation. [A.S. wác, pliant—wican, to yield; Dut. week, Ice. veikr, Ger. weich.]
Weal, wēl, n. state of being well: a sound or prosperous state: welfare.—adj. Weal′-bal′anced (Shak.), explained by Schmidt as kept in a state of just proportion by reasons of state.—n. Weals′man (Shak.), a statesman.—The public, general, or common weal, the well-being, interest, and prosperity of the country. [A.S. wela, wealth, bliss; Ger. wohl.]
Weal, wēl, n. a form of wale.
Weald, wēld, n. any open country.—adj. Weald′en, pertaining to the Weald.—n. a geological formation seen in the Weald—viz. the upper oolitic series of rocks.—The Weald, a district comprising portions of Kent and Sussex, extending from Folkestone Hill near the Straits of Dover to Beachy Head. [From the root of wild; not directly conn. with A.S. weald, a forest, wold.]
Wealth, welth, n. large possessions of any kind: riches.—adv. Wealth′ily.—n. Wealth′iness.—adj. Wealth′y, rich: prosperous: well-fed. [An extension of weal.]
Wean, wēn, v.t. to accustom to nourishment other than the mother's milk: to reconcile to the want of anything: to estrange the affections from any object or habit.—n. (wān) an infant, a child (Scot.).—ns. Wean′el (Spens.), a weanling; Wean′ing-brash, a severe form of diarrhœa, which supervenes, at times, on weaning.—adj. Wean′ling, newly weaned.—n. a child or animal newly weaned. [A.S. wenian; Ice. venja, Ger. gewöhnen, to accustom, ent-wöhnen, to disuse, to wean.]