Forms: α. 4–6 welde, 6– weld (8 wield). β. 5–6 wolde, (olde), 5– wold (5 oold), 7–8 would, 8 woold, 8–9 woald. γ. Sc. 5– wald. [OE. *wealde, Anglian *walde = MLG. walde (wolde), waude (still in LG.), MDu. woude, wouwe (Du. wouw; hence G. wau, † waube, Sw. and Da. vau), possibly a derivative of wald, wood, forest. The Germanic word is the source of Sp. gualda, Pg. gualde, F. gaude.
The later forms of the word show the same development of the vowel as the West Saxon weald WEALD and Anglian wald WOLD]
1. The plant Reseda Luteola, which yields a yellow dye. Also, the dye obtained from this plant.
α. c. 1374. Chaucer, Former Age, 17. No Madyr, welde, or wod no litestere Ne knewh.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 520/2. Welde, or wolde, herbe … sandix, attriplex.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. cxxviii. 398. Luteola … in English Welde and Diers weede.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Kent, II. 57. Weld or Wold:—Know, Reader, that I borrow my Orthographic hereof (if it be so) from the Dyers themselves.
1676. Phil. Trans., XI. 795. Diarsweed, Weld or Would.
1707. [J. Johnson], Clergyman’s Vade Mecum, 217. Woad, Saffron, Wield, are all small Tythes.
1763. W. Lewis, Chem. Philos.-Techn., 412. The cloth … is then passed through a copper of weld or woold, prepared as for dying yellow, which is supposed to soften the cloth.
1789. Trans. Soc. Arts, I. 207. A plat of weld I had planted the autumn before.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 539. Weld readily imparts its colour to water; it is used in the proportion of from three to six pounds for every pound of cloth.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 126. The boil of weld, by which the dye of black cloth is frequently finished.
1872. Oliver, Elem. Bot., II. 141. Dyer’s Mignonette or Weld (R. Luteola) is cultivated for dyeing yellow.
β. 14[?]. in Sax. Leechd., III. 349/1. Wolde.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 532/1. Wold, herbe, or woode … sandix.
1496. Bk. St. Albans, Fysshynge, h ij. Put therein two handfull of ooldys or of wyxen…. Lete woode your heer in an woodsfatte a lyght plunket colour. And thenne sethe hym in olde or wyxin.
1530. Palsgr., 290/1. Wolde herbe.
1582. Hakluyt, Voy. (1599), II. I. 163. Yellowes and greenes are colours of small prices in this realme, by reason that Olde and Greenweed wherewith they be died be naturall here.
a. 1661, 1676. Wold, would [see α.].
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 165. Weld or Would is a rich Dyers Commodity.
1763. Woold [see α.].
1791. Hamilton, trans. Berthollet’s Dyeing, II. 259. Weld or woald is a plant yielding a yellow colour.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 29. The rain shall … change his fleece, With now the sweetly-blushing purple dye, With now the saffron wold.
γ. 1498. Halyburton, Ledger (1867), 223. Item sald hym a town of wald for 7 li. 15 s.
15[?]. Aberd. Reg. (MS.), XXIV. Thre half pokis of wald.
1672. Sc. Acts Chas. II. (1814), VIII. 63/2. Noe vther incorporation … to buy or sell … Wald and vther materialls for dying.
1743. R. Maxwell, Sel. Trans. Agric., 368. For every Pound of Yarn allow three fourths of a Pound good English Wald.
1808. Jamieson.
† b. Applied to other species of Reseda. Obs.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. cxxviii. 396. Of Sesamoides, or bastard Weld or Weade, out of Diosc…. 3 Sesamoides maius Scaligeri. Barren Welde. 4 Sesamoides paruum Mathioli. Bucks borne Welde.
2. attrib. and Comb., as weld plant, seed; well-dyeing, liquor, vat, yellow; weldworts, Lindley’s name for the N.O. Resedaceæ.
1876. W. Morris, in Mackail, Life (1899), I. 325. I have found out and practised the art of *weld-dyeing.
1763. W. Lewis, Chem. Philos.-Techn., 413. The passing through *weld liquor, after scowering with soap, is entirely unnecessary.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 777. Sheep … will not touch the *weld plants.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 147. The French sow their *weld-seed in July.
1899. Mackail, W. Morris, I. 317. Madder or *weld vats.
1845. Lindley, School Bot. (new ed.) 72. Resedaceæ—*Weldworts.
1899. in Mackail, W. Morris, I. 312. Madder red, *wald yellow.
