To WET. In a sense of good fellowship and hilarity, and of course in a military one, to take a cheerful glass, or, speaking popularly, to “moisten the clay.”
To Wet a Commission. It has always been customary in the army, for every officer, when he obtains a commission, gets promoted, or exchanged, to afford some mark and acknowlegement to the corps he joins.
WERE. The preterite of I am.
As you Were. A word of command in the British service which corresponds with the French remettez vous. It signifies to return to the same position from which you had faced or wheeled, &c. and is generally used when any motion of the firelock or movement of the body has been done improperly.
WERST. A Russian measure in travelling. The Werst contains seven hundred and fifty geometrical paces.
WHEEL, in artillery. A circular body which turns round on its axis. The strength of these wheels is always, or should be, proportional to the weight they carry: the diameters of the wheels of heavy gun-carriages are 85 inches, and those for light field-pieces 52 only.
To Wheel, (Faire conversion, Fr.) In a military sense, to move forward or backward in a circular manner, round some given point. See [Pivot]. Wheeling is one of the most essential and important operations of the squadron, necessary in many changes of position, and in the formation of column and of the line.
Wheel of the squadron. When the entire squadron is to wheel, a caution is given to that purport, and to which hand. At the word March, the front rank of the squadron remains dressed to the centre, the leader fixes his eye and makes his circle on the standing flank man; the standard follows him exactly, and the squadron wheels with the same uniform front, at such a pace as is requisite to keep every where dressed with the standard. The rear rank and the serrefiles look to the wheeling flank, and incline, at the same time that they wheel, so as always to cover their front leaders.
The standard must take care, never to oblige the wheeling man to exceed a moderate gallop, otherwise the rear rank, which has still more ground to go over, cannot keep up; the squadron will wheel loose and in disorder, and be longer in dressing than if it had come about at a slower pace, but close and connected.
The flanks must always conform to the centre, in case the leader does not take his ground as exactly as he ought. At any rate, the standard is the guide for the pace, and the point from which the distance of files is to be preserved.