Forms: α. 5 walt, 6 walte; Sc. 6 wat, 6, 9 waut, 9 waat; north. dial. 9 wolt, wote, woat, waut. β. 5–6 weltte, welte, 6 wealte, 6– welt. [Of obscure origin; the variation in the vowel suggests an OE. *wealt, with Anglian variant *walt.]
1. Shoemaking. A strip of leather placed between and sewn to the edge of the sole and the turned-in edge of the upper in soling a boot or shoe.
α. 14[?]. Garlande’s Dict., in Wright, Voc. (1857), 125. Pictaciarii (clowtars) viles sunt, qui consuunt sotulares veteres, renovando pictacia (clowtys), et intercucia (waltys), et soleas, et inpedeas.
1500. Ortus Vocab., Intercutium, anglice a walte of a shoghe.
1508. Dunbar, Flyting, 213. Stra wispis hingis owt [of thy boots], quhair that the wattis [v.r. waltis] ar worne.
1899. Leeds Merc. Suppl., 14 Oct. (E.D.D.). If tha doesn’t mind, tha’ll court thisen off o’ t’ walts.
β. c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 664/35. Hoc intercucium, weltte.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 521/1. Welte, of a schoo, incucium, vel intercucium.
1483. Cath. Angl., 414/1. A Welte, intercucium.
1530. Palsgr., 287/2. Welte of a shoe, oureleure.
1737. Dyche & Pardon, Dict., Welt, that Slip of Leather, or Part of a Shoe that joins and holds the Sole and upper Leather together.
1880. Times, 21 Sept., 4/4. To attach a narrow strip of flexible stout leather (the welt) to the outer edge of the upper, and the two to the insole.
1895. Boot Mending & Making (ed. P. N. Hasluck), vi. 95. Whether the work is to be … left plain, which is called a ‘blind-welt,’ or the stitch sunk, and the welt fudged to imitate stitching.
2. A narrow strip of material put on the edge of a garment, etc., as a border, binding or hem; a frill, fringe or trimming.
Frequently associated with GUARD (sb. 11).
α. 1506. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., III. 115. Item, for ane waut of Rislis broun to it [a kirtle], iij s.
1804. W. Tarras, Poems, 38. Gin onie chiel had coolie scaw’t, Sic’s groogl’t crown, or raggit waut, Wad we na jeer’t.
β. 1530. Palsgr., 287/2. Welt of a garment, ourelet.
1547. in Feuillerat, Revels Edw. VI. (1914), 9. One half having a border of black Letters & thother half having ij Rounde welttes of black vellett.
1582. Breton, Flourish Fancy, etc. (Grosart), 15/1. Wherof good stoare of cloathe … in fashions may be spent: In gardes, in weltes, and iagges.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., VII. iv. § 3. 202. Their Cassockes were … of linnen, trimmed and set out with very broad Gards or Welts.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 355. A Scarlet Cloak, edg’d with a Welt, Was thrown him o’re.
1748. Earthquake of Peru, i. 63. Their Habit is grey, with a purple Welt.
1820. Scott, Monast., xxix. The unction with which he dilated upon welts, laces, slashes, and trimmings.
1831. Carlyle, Sartor Res., I. vii. Welts, a handbreadth thick,… waver round them by way of hem.
1894. J. Davidson, Ballads & Songs, 113.
| Maid Marian’s kirtle, somewhat old, | |
| A welt of red must now enhance. |
1903. Times, 8 Sept., 10/4. Very particular attention is devoted in various regiments to the welts on the undress overalls. Some Fusilier battalions substitute a narrow stripe stitched on in place of the orthodox welt.
fig. a. 1637. B. Jonson, Discov. (1641), 91. There are certaine Scioli … that are busie in the skirts … of Learning…. They may have some edging, or trimming of a Scholler, a welt, or so; but it is no more.
† b. Phrase. Without well or guard: without ornamentation or trimming. Obs.
1592. Greene, Upst. Courtier, B 3 b. I sawe they were a plaine payre of Cloth breeches, without eyther welt or garde.
1631. Jordan, Nat. Bathes, Ded, (1669), 4. A plain sute of our Country Cloath; without welt or gard.
1679. Hist. Jetzer, 36. He was cloath’d in a close Coat of coarse cloth, without welt or guard.
† c. fig. (Also without welt or cover.)
c. 1590. Greene, Fr. Bacon, 2140. Marke you maisters, heers a plaine honest man, without welt or garde.
1594–1692. [see GUARD sb. 11 b].
1603. Harsnet, Popish Impost., 167. Loe heere … plaine Gentilisme, without welt or couer.
a. 1734. North, Examen, I. i. § 7 (1740), 18. And of these irrefragable Authorities some he affords great Encomiums to, others pass without Welt or Guard.
d. Used by R. Holme (and hence by later compilers) as a heraldic term, in contrast to border.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, I. 31. An edg, or hem, or welt, only runs on the sides of the Ordinary; but the Border … goeth clear round the same.
c. 1828. Berry, Encycl. Her., I. Gloss., Welt, or Edge, a narrow kind of border to an ordinary, or charge, sometimes improperly called a fimbriation, but the cross … should have the fimbriation run all round it,… which the welt or edge, does not. [Hence in Ogilvie (1850), and in later Dicts.]
† 3. A binding strip or band. Obs.
In quot. 1607 perhaps an error for ‘netts.’
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 215. Hauing found out the field or bill where the beasts are lodged, they compasse it … with welts and toils inuented for that purpose.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., I. III. xxi. 183. The Edges [of the baskets] both above and below [must] be so well wrought as not to unravel; There must be also a Welt round about the middle for the same reason.
1698. Froger, Voy., 133. Their Privy-parts, which they cover with a little Cotton-welt [Fr. ceinture de coton], that hangs down by their Legs.
4. A narrow ridge, a raised stripe. Obs.
1599. Nashe, Lenton Stuffe, 5. Their hauen … hauing but as it were a welte of land … betwixte it and the wide Maine.
1614. Sylvester, Bethulia’s Rescue, IV. 375. Her muskie Mouth … A swelling Welt of Corall round behems, Which smiling shows two rows of orient Gems.
1614. Markham, Cheap & Good Husb., II. Of Hawks i. 137. And these Stones if they be full of crests and welts, they are the better.
a. 1682. Sir T. Browne, Tracts, I. (1683), 78. The Trunk or Body thereof [of the palm tree] is naturally contrived for ascension,… having many welts and eminencies.
1694. Motteux, trans. Rabelais, V. xxiii. 107. Their dainty Chops and Gullets were lin’d through with Crimsin Satin with little Welts, and Gold Purls.
b. spec. in Nat. Hist. Now rare.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. xxxv. 192. Of Floure Deluce or Iris…. In the leaues [of the flower] that hang downewardes, there are certaine rough or hearie weltes lyke vnto a mans browes.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, I. xxxv. § 5. 50. Flowers of a purple or violet colour,… with a white hairie welt downe the middle.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., xiv. 958. Upon the shoulders [of the butterfly] there is a kinde of sandy dusky coloured roll or welt.
1698. Froger, Voy., 131. The Toucan,… whose bill is … all over nothing but black and white welts or streaks, like Ebony and Ivory interlaid.
1707. Sloane, Jamaica, I. 94. On the upper margin of them, in a ferrugineous welt, lies the seed.
1713. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XXVIII. 208. Its Leaves generally single,… with a large forked welt which saddles the Stalk.
1892. A. A. Crozier, Dict. Bot. Terms, Welt, a broad, raised stripe or ridge upon the surface of a fruit, as is occasionally seen in the orange and lemon.
c. A ridge on the flesh, esp. the mark of a healed wound; a seam.
1800. Phil. Trans., XCI. 8. The cicatrix formed a hard welt, tender to the touch.
1842. Lover, Handy Andy, iv. From shoulder to flank, sir, I am one mass of welts and weals.
1876. E. Wagner’s Gen. Path., 30. If the actual cautery be applied upon a corpse, there arise only … more or less hard or leathery welts.
1883. G. H. Boughton, in Harper’s Mag., March, 531/1. The slight welt of a sabre cut on one check.
transf. and fig. 1882. G. F. Pentecost, Out of Egypt, i. 12. Who can tell what the first hot and burning welt of pain was which followed the first stroke of passion’s whip?
1893. Kipling, Barrack-room Ballads, L’Envoi 53. O the blazing tropic night, when the wake’s a welt of light.
5. Technical uses. a. A flange on a horse-shoe. b. Saddle-making. A narrow strip of leather stitched in between the skirts and the seat. c. Glove-making. (See quots.) d. Knitting. (See quots.) e. A strip or fillet laid over a seam or joint or placed in an angle to secure or strengthen it. f. The lap or fold of a welted joint (see WELTED ppl. a. 4). See also sense 1.
a. c. 1770. T. Fairfax, Compl. Sportsm., 21. [Horse] Shoes with swelling welts, or borders round about them, are used in Germany, &c.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 171. Ordinary [horse] shoes … are either light flat disks,… or of much greater strength, with welts or knobs on the toes.
b. 1871. Saddlers’ Gaz., 1 Nov., 10/1. The skirts being properly edged up, you will now make the welt and fix it to the skirt.
1904. Saddlery (ed. P. N. Hasluck), iii. 29. Place the thin hogskin welt along the upper edge of the seat and stitch the skirt and welt together…. From the point to which the seat is stitched, a wider welt doubled like the narrow one must be stitched to the skirt.
c. 1883. S. W. Beck, Gloves, xii. 179–80. One minor … process, known as ‘felling the slit-welt’—that is, the turning over and hemming of the welt on the edge of the opening of the gloves.
1886. Chamb. Jrnl., 10 April, 226/2. Out of the parts left he cuts pieces … for the binding round the top and the opening [of a glove] … which are called ‘welts.’
d. 1869. Lonsdale Gloss., Welt, ribbed knitting.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Welt, (Knitting-machine) a flap of work (as a heel-piece) disengaged laterally and knitted separately from the main body, and subsequently joined thereto by re-engagement of loops or by hand-knitting.
1879. Shropsh. Word-bk., s.v., The ribs of knitting at the top of a sock or stocking are called welts.
e. 1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., s.v. Carvel-built, The edges of the plates are brought flush together and riveted to a lap or welt in the rear.
1883. Lockwood’s Dict. Mech. Engin., Welt, the covering strip used in butt riveting.
f. 1888. J. W. Clarke, Plumbing Pract., viii. 81. A mandrel must be fixed inside for the welt to be worked in quite closely.
6. A stroke with a lash or pliant stick; also, a heavy blow with the fist. (Cf. WELT v.1 5.)
1863. Cornhill Mag., VII. 453. There’s thirteen of us to do the punishment, and we must have two welts a piece.
1900. A. McIlroy, By Lone Craig-Linnie Burn, v. 54. Every man claimed the right of bestowing a ‘welt’ on a restive horse with his ash ‘plant’ as he passed.
7. attrib. and Comb., in the names of shoemakers’ tools, appliances and materials, as welt-beater, -cutter, -file, -guide, -knife, -leather, -machine, -mill, shoulders (cf. SHOULDER sb. 5 b), -trimmer.
1812. Sporting Mag., XL. 14. Cobler’s-wax and welt-leather.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 4671. Curried Welt Shoulders.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2760. Welt-cutter, -guide, -knife, -machine, -trimmer.
1895. Boot Making (ed. P. N. Hasluck) v. 83. If they are too thick, reduce them on the flesh side in a welt mill or skiving machine. Ibid., vii. 107. The welt file, used for smoothing the welt.
1897. C. T. Davis, Manuf. Leather, 637. To dress … welt leather and flexible splits.
† Welt sb.2 Obs. Cant. (See RUM a.1 2 b.)
