A personal lexicon of unusual, archaic, scientific, and otherwise interesting words encountered in reading. Browse other letters from the Dictionary catalog.
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| waddle | intr.v. to walk heavily and clumsily with a pronounced sway; n. |
| wag | a humorous or droll person; a wit |
| waggish | jocular or witty |
| wallaby | marsupials smaller than kangaroo and having a colorful coat. |
| Waller, “Fats” | 1904-1943. American jazz musician and composer. |
| wallop | tr.v. to beat soundly; thrash; to strike with a hard blow; to defeat thoroughly; intr.v. waddle; n. a hard or severe blow; the ability to strike a powerful blow; the capacity to create a forceful effect |
| Ward heeler | a worker for the ward organization of a political machine |
| warlock | male witch, sorcerer, wizard or demon |
| warren | an enclosure for small game animals; an overcrowded living area; a mazelike place where one may easily become lost |
| wassail | n. a salutation or toast given in drinking someone health or as an expression of good will at a festivity; the drink used in such toasting; a festivity characterized by much drinking; tr.v. toast; intr.v. |
| wastrel | one who wastes, esp. one who wastes money, a profligate; an idler or a loafer |
| waterbuck | African antelope |
| wattle | a fleshy, wrinkled, often brightly colored fold of skin hanging from the neck or throat, characteristic of certain birds and lizards. |
| wax | intr.v. to increase gradually in size, number, strength or intensity; to show a progressively larger illuminated area; to grow or become as specified |
| weal | prosperity, good fortune, welfare; ridge raised on flesh by stroke of whip or rod |
| welter | n. a confused mass; a jumble; confusion, turmoil; intr.v. to wallow, roll, or toss about, as in mud or high seas; to lie soaked in a liquid; to roll and surge, as the sea |
| werewolf | a man who transforms into a wolf |
| wheedle | tr.v. to persuade or attempt to persuade by flattery or guile; to cajole; to obtain through the use of flattery or guile; intr.v. to use flattery or cajolery to achieve one’s ends |
| whippersnapper | a person regarded as insignificant and pretentious |
| whiptail | lizard having a long, slender tail. |
| whiz-bang | high-velocity shell from a small-caliber gun, whose passage is heard before the gun’s report |
| whoop | n. a loud cry of exultation or excitement; a shout; a hooting cry; intr.v., tr.v. to express or arouse enthusiasm; cheer |
| whoring | a person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain; intr.v. to compromise principles for personal gain |
| wildebeest | gnu, African antelope |
| wile | n. a stratagem or trick intended to deceive or ensnare; a disarming or seductive manner, device, or procedure; trickery; cunning; tr.v. entice; to pass (time) agreeably |
| Willow | tree or wood |
| wily | full of wiles, cunning |
| wimple | cloth covering head, sides of face and neck as part of habit of nun |
| wiseacre | a person regarded as being disagreeably egotistical and self-assured |
| wishy-washy | thin and watery, insipid; lacking in strength of character or purpose; ineffective |
| wont | adj. accustomed or used; likely; n. customary practice; usage; v.t. to make accustomed to; v. intr. to be in the habit of doing something |
| woozy | dazed or confused; dizzy or queasy |
| worsted1 | firm-textured, compactly twisted woolen yarn made from long-staple fibers |
| worsted2 | tr.v. to gain the advantage over; defeat. |
| wraith | an apparition of a living person that appears as a portent just before that person’s death; the ghost of a dead person; something shadowy and insubstantial |
| writ | written |
| wryly | contorted; cleverly and often ironically humorous |
| wurst | sausage |
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