Wrath, räth, n. violent anger: holy indignation: heat.—adj. violently angry.—adj. Wrath′ful, full of wrath: very angry: springing from, or expressing, wrath.—adv. Wrath′fully.—n. Wrath′fulness.—adv. Wrath′ily.—adjs. Wrath′less; Wrath′y, apt to wrath. [Old Northumbrian wrǽððo—A.S. wráð, adj. wroth; Ice. reithi.]
Wrawl, rawl, v.i. (Spens.) to cry as a cat, to caterwaul. [Imit.]
Wraxling, raks′ling, n. wrestling.
Wreak, rēk, v.t. to inflict: avenge.—n. Wreak′er.—adjs. Wreak′ful, revengeful: angry; Wreak′less, unpunished. [A.S. wrecan, orig. to drive, and so to punish, avenge; Ice. reka, to drive, pursue, Ger. rächen; conn. with L. urgēre.]
Wreak, rēk, v.i. (Shak.). Same as Reck.
Wreath, rēth, n. a chaplet: a garland: anything long and circular: a defect in glass.—v.t. Wreathe (rēth), to form by twisting: to form into a wreath: to twine about or encircle.—v.i. to be interwoven.—adj. Wreath′en (th), wreathed.—n. Wreath′er (th).—adjs. Wreath′less; Wreath′y. [A.S. wrædh, 'a twisted band'—wríthan, to writhe.]
Wreck, rek, n. destruction: destruction of a ship: ruins of a destroyed ship: remains of anything ruined: shipwrecked property.—v.t. to destroy or disable: to ruin.—v.i. to suffer wreck or ruin.—ns. Wreck′age, the act of wrecking: wrecked material; Wreck′er, a person who purposely causes a wreck or who plunders wreckage: one who lures a ship on to the rocks for purposes of plunder: one who criminally ruins anything: a person employed by the owners in recovering disabled vessels or their cargo.—adj. Wreck′ful, causing ruin.—n. Wreck′-mas′ter, a person taking charge of a disabled ship and its cargo.—Wreck commissioners, a tribunal which inquires into shipping disasters.—Receivers of wrecks, wreck-masters. [A.S. wræc, expulsion—wrecan, to drive, Low Ger. wrak, Dut. wrak, Ice. reki, a thing drifted ashore; a doublet of wrack.]
Wreck, rek, n. (Spens.) same as Wreak.—v.t. (Milt.) to wreak.
Wren, ren, n. a genus (Troglodytes) and family (Troglodytidæ) of birds, having a slender, slightly curved and pointed bill, the wings very short and rounded, the tail short and carried erect, the legs slender and rather long.—ns. Wren′ning, the stoning of a wren to death on St Stephen's Day, December 26th—Wrenning Day—once practised in the North Country; Wren′-tit, a Californian bird (Chamæa fasciata), of dubious relations, at once resembling the wren and the titmouse. [A.S. wrenna, wrǽnna—wrǽne, lascivious.]
Wrench, rensh, v.t. to wring or pull with a twist: to force by violence: to sprain.—v.i. to undergo a violent wrenching.—n. a violent twist: a sprain: an instrument for turning bolts, &c.: in coursing, bringing the hare round at less than a right angle—half a point in the recognised code of points for judging. [A.S. wrencan (Ger. renken)—wrenc, fraud; root of wring.]