Forms: α. 5 Sc. and north. walte, waut, 6 Sc. walt, wawt, wate, vat. β. 6 welte, wealt, 6– welt. [f. WELT sb.1]
1. trans. To furnish (shoes) with welts; to repair or renew the welts of.
α. 1483. Cath. Angl., 407/1. To Walte, jutercuciare.
1500. Ortus Vocab., Intercutio, to walte a schoghe.
β. 1729. P. Walkden, Diary (1866), 40. Paid for welting and soling my shoes, 1s. 6d.
1854. G. Borrow, in Shorter, B. & his Circle, xxxii. (1913), 374. My boots were worn up by the time I reached Swansea and was obliged to get them new soled and welted.
1914. Daily News, 30 June, 4. I cannot canonise the machine which stitches uppers and welts soles.
2. To border, hem or ornament (a garment) with welts or strips of material. Also with about. Also absol. (Cf. WELTED ppl. a. 1 a.) Now rare or Obs.
α. 1489. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 162. Thre quartaris of veluus to waut hir gowne. Ibid. (1541), VIII. 22. For grene velvet to walt ane cote. Ibid. (1546), 438. Tua elnis … blak velvot … to walt the said goun and kirtill.
β. 1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Border & couvrir le bord, to border, to welt.
1592. Greene, Upst. Courtier, D 1 b. In making of veluet breeches, where there is required silke lace,… and such costly stuffe, to welt, gard, whip, stitch, edge, face, and draw out.
1755. Johnson, To Welt, to sew any thing with a border.
† 3. ? To bind in strips. Obs. rare.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 412. If any be sicke, a speare is set vp in his Tent with blacke Felt welted about it.
4. Technical uses: a. To bind with strips or a strip of leather, spec. in Glove-making and Carriage-building.
1795. [see WELTING vbl. sb. 1 b].
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Mrs. Hallib., I. xviii. Some welted, or hemmed the gloves round at the edge of the wrist.
b. Plumbing. To join (the ends of a pipe, etc.) by turning the edges one over the other and pressing them together. Cf. WELTED ppl. a. 4.
1888. J. W. Clarke, Plumbing Pract., viii. 81. At a sanitary exhibition … were exhibited some joints … made by welting the ends of the pipes together.
5. To beat, thrash.
1823. Moor, Suffolk Words, Welt.… to beat severely—so as to raise wales or weals.
1837. Haliburton, Clockm., Ser. II. xxii. And they gist fell to and welted him all the way into the town with the tip eend of their lassos.
1855. F. C. Armstrong, Warhawk, I. xii. 248. I’ll welt you with a rope’s end if you don’t mizzle.
1894. Astley, 50 Years Life, I. 105. My ribs ached as though they had been welted with a single-stick.
1901. E. Phillpotts, Striking Hours, 12. Next time I catches you spyin’ ’pon me, I’ll welt the hide off your bones an’ give the gashly, slack-twisted carcass of ’e to the crows.
