wagpastie, a term of contempt; a rogue; ‘A little wagpastie, A deceiver of folkes’, Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 2.
wagtail, a contemptuous term for a profligate woman. Middleton, A Trick to catch, ii. 1 (Lucre); Shirley, Traitor, ii. 1 (Sciarrha).
waift, weft, a ‘waif’, a thing cast adrift; used by Spenser of a person, ‘She was flying like a weary weft’, F. Q. v. 3. 27; vi. 1. 18, wefte, iii. 10. 36; waift, iv. 12. 31.
wailful, doleful. Two Gent. iii. 2. 69.
waistcoat, a body-dress for a woman, like a man’s waistcoat; sometimes very costly. When worn without an upper dress, it was considered the mark of a profligate woman. Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieut. ii. 3 (Leucippe); Woman’s Prize, i. 4 (Livia); Loyal Subject, ii. 4 (Young Archas). Hence waistcoateer, a strumpet, Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieut. i. 1 (2 Usher); Wit without Money, iv. 4 (Luce).
wake, the feast of the dedication of a church, originally the vigil before the festival; the merry-making in connexion therewith; ‘He haunts wakes, fairs’, Winter’s Tale, iv. 3. 109; ‘At wakes and wassails’, L. L. L. v. 2. 318; wake-day, Tusser, Husbandry, § 90. 5. ‘Wake’ is in prov. use in various parts of England for an annual festival and holiday, often connected with the dedication of the parish church; the fair held at such times was also so called, see EDD. (s.v. Wake, sb.1 8). OE. wacu, a watch, a vigil; cp. wacana (‘vigilias’) in Luke ii. 8 (Lind.).
waker, wakeful. Sir T. Wyatt, The Lover confesseth him (ed. Bell, p. 66); Golding, Metam. xi. 599; fol. 139, bk. (1603). OE. wacor, wakeful, vigilant.
wale: the wale of cloth, the ridge or rib in cloth denoting its quality; ‘Thou’rt rougher far, and of a coarser wale’, Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One: Triumph of Honour, sc. i (Sophocles); Middleton, Mich. Term, ii. 3 (Easy). ME. wale, a stripe (Prompt.). OE. walu, a weal, mark of a blow (Napier, Glosses).
wales, pl. springs of water; ‘To cloudes alofte the wales and waters rise’, Mirror for Mag., Domitius Nero, st. 11; Golding, Metam. ii. 11. Probably the same word as wall, in prov. use for a spring of water in Scotland, see EDD. (s.v. Wall, sb.2 1).
walk the round, to be one of the watchmen. Massinger, Guardian, iii. 5 (Severino); to act as a watchman, go the round; B. Jonson, Alchem. iii. 2 (Face).