WAYWODE, Ind. A prince; a chieftain.
WEAPON. An instrument of offence.
WEAPONED. Armed; furnished with arms of offence.
WEAPONLESS. Unarmed; having no weapon.
WEAR. A sluice-gate, or dam to shut up the water.
WEDGE. See [Coins], [Mechanic Powers], &c.
WEDGE. In a work translated from the French, and which is entitled, Observations on the Military Art, we find the following description of this instrument. It is composed of five surfaces, two of which are triangular, two long squared, and the fifth arbitrary. The two oblong surfaces, by their inclination to each other, form the point that insinuates itself into the wood, &c. that is to be split, as well as the sides or triangular surfaces, if the triangle, as it is driven, lengthens the slit or opening. They are the square surfaces that first insinuate themselves into the body to be cleft; and what are called triangular surfaces, are only what fill the space that separates the two quadrangular sides. After this reflection it appears, that the column has, at least, as just a claim as the triangle, to the term or word wedge. We may even say, with confidence, it has a much better; for a triangle of men ranged according to the same proportion as the triangle of the mechanic wedge, would be of very little force; and a mechanic wedge, of which the incisive angle was as great as that of a triangle of men, would be too large to enter those bodies we should want to cleave or split.
The double phalanx amphistome, of which Epaminondas formed the wedge, contained 3000 men, who were ranged, in Bouchaud’s opinion, one hundred in front, and 30 deep. This opinion, according to some is erroneous. Among the different evolutions of the ancients, the wedge was frequently resorted to, and was in some degree connected with the lozenge, which is a figure in geometry composed of four sides and four angles: of the four angles two are always obtuse, and two acute. The angles, that are alike, are always opposed one to the other, and always in the same number of degrees. According to Ælian, there are many ways of ranging squadrons in a lozenge: in the first, they have ranks and files; in the second, neither; in the third, they have files, but no ranks; lastly, in the fourth, they have ranks alone without files. With regard to the wedge, it was a formation which the ancients adopted both in cavalry and infantry evolutions, and was variously used, viz:—
The Wedge of Cavalry. This figure was formed on the same principles and movements as the lozenge, as far as the greatest rank of the latter, which served as a base to the triangular wedge. It was therefore as the half of a lozenge, cut and divided at its obtuse angles.
The Triangular Wedge of Infantry.—Some people pretend, that there were two sorts of triangular wedges in use among the ancients. The first was full, and formed after the same manner as the lozenge, and the wedge of the cavalry. The second was open at the base, and ranged differently from that of the first.