Also B (senses 1, 5–6), 6–7, 9 Sc., dial. and Naut. weft, (7 wefte, waift), 9. wheft, whift. [Probably two or more formations: in part certainly a noun of action f. WAFT v.1 and v.2; but sense 1 is recorded more than a century earlier than any sense of the verb that could give rise to it; and the β forms of the sb., which do not occur in the verb, seem to indicate a different origin. Cf. WAFF sb., WEFF; also Sw. vifta, Da. vifte, fan, Sw. vifta, Da. vifte to fan, Norw. veift puff of wind.]
1. a. A taste or flavor, esp. an ill taste, a ‘twang.’ Now dial. Cf. WEFF.
α. 1608. Middleton, Mad World, IV. iii. F 4 b. A strumpets loue will haue a waft i’ th end, and distast the vessell: I can hardly beare this.
1866. Brogden, Provinc. Lincolnsh., Waft, a disagreeable flavour.
β. 1542. Boorde, Dyetary, x. (1870), 256. Ale … muste not be ropy nor smoky, nor it must haue no weft nor tayle.
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., Weft, a musty taste, generally applied to beer or wine that tastes of the cask. ‘The beer has a weft of the barrel.’
fig. 1627. S. Ward, Serm. & Treat., Coal from Altar, 17. Spices and wefts of these evils may be found in the sincerest Christians.
b. A scent or odor passing through the air or carried on the breeze. = WAFF sb. 2 b, WEFF.
α. 1611. Cotgr., Odeur, an odor, sent, smell, waft. Puant,… that hath an ill waft, or smell.
1675. Evelyn, Terra (1776), 70. Aloes and other Sedums … send forth their aromatic Wafts at considerable distance.
a. 1693. Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. xxxii. 273. It is not a sensitive discerning or perception in it of the difference of Wafts and Smells.
1886. Cheshire Gloss., s.v., Sitch a waft o’ stinkin fish.
1889. Amelia E. Barr, Feet of Clay, ii. 37. The salt savor of the sea wind was crossed by a waft of hay-fields and meadow-swwet.
β. 1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 833. The Strongest Sort of Smells are best in a weft, a farre off.
1640. Shirley, Arcadia, III. ii. E 3 b. If this be gold ’tis liquid and yet too thicke to be potable as they say, it has a kinde of weft me thinks if I have not lost a sence upon the sudden, I smell.
2. A current or rush of air, a breath of wind; a blast; the ‘wind’ of a projectile.
1643. Mrs. Thornton, Autobiog. (Surtees), 33. A cannon bullett flew soe nigh the place where I stood that … the wafte tooke my breath from me for that present.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. IV., cccv. Chaine-Bulletts of his will Run through all Streets, and in the Waft, they kill.
1650. D. Hotham, trans. C. Hotham’s Introd. Teut. Philos., To Author A 3 b. Me thought the reading of him was like the standing upon a precipice, or by a Canon shot off, the waft of them lickt up all my brains.
1863. W. Thornbury, True as Steel, II. 66. A waft of air scattered them [the ashes] apart for ever.
1867. Jean Ingelow, Gladys, 603. The air was full of voices, and the scent Of mountain blossom loaded all its wafts.
1884. Sladen, Poetry of Exiles, 55. Reading sweet verse or inhaling a waft of the harbour breeze.
b. fig.
1607. Walkington, Opt. Glass, 166. Riot’s a barke in th’ mindes vnconstant maine, Tost too and fro with wafts of appetite.
1658. G. Fox, Jrnl. (1852), I. 345. I saw and felt a waft of death go forth against him.
1822. Galt, Sir A. Wylie, II. xxxvi. 321. If I get a favourable waft o’ your good will, I can bide a wee for an answer.
1873. Gosse, On Viol & Flute, 59.
| Since, out of grieving at a present light, | |
| Come sweeter wafts of garnered memory. |
1880. Shorthouse, John Inglesant, xxxvi. A waft of peace and calm, like a breeze from paradise, fell upon Malvolti’s heart.
c. A sound carried by the breeze. Also (nonce-use), a transitory gleam (of light).
1697. Vanbrugh, Æsop, V. 67. D’ye hear, Trumpets? When the Bride appears, Salute her with a Melancholy Waft. ’Twill suit her humour.
1845. Bailey, Festus, 214. Sudden and soft, too, like a waft of light, The beautiful immortals come to me.
a. 1894. Stevenson, Heathercat, iii. Lay Morals, etc. (1911), 319. The voice of the preacher came to him in wafts, at the wind’s will, as by the opening and shutting of a door.
d. A puff (of smoke or vapor).
1896. Jane Barlow, Mrs. Martin’s Comp., 8. ’Twas just the one way wid her as wid the waft of smoke there up in her ould chimney that went fluttherin’ out on the width of the air, and sorra another breath anywheres nigh it.
1897. Blackmore, Dariel, xii. Clusters of stars … and loose wafts of vapour ever ready to flout them.
3. An act of wafting or carrying off as the wind does.
1727–46. Thomson, Winter, 271. Oft the whirlwind’s wing Sweeps up the burden of whole wintry plains In one wide waft.
4. An act of transporting or carrying over water; a passage across the sea. ? Obs.
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, III. vi. 106. They came to a Bury, which was at that time overflown with water, there Jany and Jocky stood gaping … untill a Traveller passing that way, profer’d the courtesie of a waft successively to them both.
1657. Davenant, 1st Day’s Entertainm. Rutland Ho., 72. [He] with his long pole gives us a tedious waft, as if he were all the while poching for Eels.
1786. Burns, Twa Dogs, 156. Or may be in a frolic daft, To Hague or Calais takes a waft.
5. An act of waving (the wings or something held in the hand); a waving movement.
α. 1652. S. Patrick, Funeral Serm. J. Smith, in Smith’s Sel. Disc. (1660), 495. He was all in a desire, as if the Angels that fetcht his Father, had lent him a waft of their wings, whereby he strove to fly with him to Heaven.
1865. Tennyson, Captain, 72. And the lonely seabird crosses With one waft of the wing.
β. 1709. J. Johnson, Clergym. Vade M., II. 103. The orarium was a sort of scarf…. The use the Deacon had for it … was to give notice to the people and clerks what they were to do or say, by the several wefts or motions that he made with it.
6. Naut. A flag (or some substitute) hoisted as a signal; the act of displaying such a signal. (See quot. 1867.) Cf. WAFF sb. 1 b.
α. 1644. Manwayring, Sea-Mans Dict., s.v., Also wafts are used for signes to have the boate come a-boord (which is Coate, Gowne or the like, hung-up in the shrowdes) also it is a common signe of some extremetie, when a ship doth hang a waft upon the maine-stay, either that it hath sprung a-leake, or is in some distresse.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 328. We immediately spread our Antient to let them know we saw them, and hung a Waft out as a Signal for them to come on board.
1744. J. Philips, Jrnl. Exped. Anson, 125. This Day the Gloucester made us a Signal by a waft of her Ensign.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), Waft, a signal displayed from the stern of a ship … by hoisting the ensign, furled up together into a long roll, to the head of it’s staff.
1854. G. B. Richardson, Univ. Code, v. (ed. 12), 6394. Hoist a waft.
β. 1613. J. Saris, Voy. Japan (Hakl. Soc.), 49. We had sight of a wefte ashoare.
1697. Admiralty Exam. (MS.), Bundle 81 fol. 171. A weft hung out for her company to come on board.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., II. i. The Sun came up upon the right…; And broad as a weft, upon the left, Went down into the Sea.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xxiii. I have been looking for an English ensign to hoist over the French, but cannot find one; so I will hoist a wheft over it,—that will do.
1840. F. D. Bennett, Whaling Voy., I. 266. The wrecked boat … with two whifts flying as a signal of distress.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Waft, more correctly written wheft. It is a flag or ensign, stopped together at the head and middle portions, slightly rolled up lengthwise, and hoisted at different positions at the after-part of a ship.
1894. C. N. Robinson, Brit. Fleet, 96. A signal of distress … is accentuated by making it into a ‘weft,’ which is done by knotting it in the middle.
b. To make a waft; to hang out a flag (or substitute) as a signal.
α. 1673. Lond. Gaz., No. 819/4. Being driven near the Shore, they made a waft, and thereupon a Fisherboat went off.
1712. E. Cooke, Voy. S. Sea, 3. He is to make a Waft with his Jack or Ensign. Ibid., 455. We made a Waift.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 264. We … saw her make a Waft with her Antient, as a Signal for the Boat to come on Board.
β. 1653. in J. S. Corbett, Fighting Instr. (1905), 99. Upon the discovery of a fleet, receiving a sign from the general, which is to be … making a weft, two frigates … are to make sail.
1820. Scott, Abbot, xxix. There have already been made two wefts from the warder’s turret, to intimate that those in the castle are impatient for your return.
7. An apparition, wraith. Cf. WAFF sb. 5.
1897. Longm. Mag., July, 252. I’m bound to die afore t’ year is out…. I seed my own waft (wraith) go into the kirk last St. Mark’s Eve, and it never cam’ out no more.
