Forms: α. 1–2 wǽt (wát), 1 Anglian wét (uét), 3–4 wet, 3–6 wete, 4–5, 9 Sc. weet, 4–6 weete, 5 weiete, north. weytt, 5–7 Sc. weit, 6 weat(e. β. 4 north. wat, 4–5 north. and Sc. wate, midl. wote, 5–6 Sc. wait. γ. 4– wet, 4–7 wette, 4–8 wett, (6 whet). δ. Sc. 6 watt, 6– wat. [Three distinct types are represented here: (1) the α-forms, originating in OE. wǽt adj. = OFris. wêt (WFris. wiet, dial. weet; NFris. wiat, wīt), ON. vátr (Icel. votur, Norw. vaat; Sw. våt, Da. vaad), a word not found outside of the Anglo-Frisian and Scandinavian groups; (2) the β-forms resulting from the adoption of the OScand. *wāt- (ON. vátr), giving the common northern ME. wate, wait, and the rare midland wote; (3) the γ-forms, properly the pa. pple. of the verb, which finally supplant the others except in dialect. The Sc. wat may either be a variant of this or of the earlier wate.]
1. Consisting of moisture, liquid. Chiefly as a pleonastic rhetorical epithet of water or tears.
In OE. used with ref. to mediaeval physiology = MOIST 1 d, HUMID b.
c. 888. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxiii. § 5. Sie eorðe is dryʓe & ceald, & þæt wæter wæt & ceald.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xxx. 441. Forʓif, drihten, þæt þyses fyres hæto sy ʓecyrred on wætne deaw.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 752. Al ðat eure smelleð swete, be it drie, be it wete.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 23679. Waters renand alwais wat.
13[?]. K. Horn, 970 (Harl. MS.). Horn … spec wiþ wete tearen.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace, 9952. Þre dayes hit was þey nought ete, Ne nought drank þat was wete.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Compl. Mars, 89. This cely Venus nygh dreynt in teres wete. Ibid., Troylus, V. 1109. Phebus with his hete Gan … To warmen of þe Est See þe wawes.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. v. 82. Careit throu feill large haw stremys wait.
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. vii. 71. Be your teares wet? Yes faith: I pray weepe not.
1862. Mrs. Browning, Last Poems, My Heart & I, iii. Our voice which thrilled you so, will let you sleep; our tears are only wet.
1894. Pall Mall Gaz., 20 Dec., 3/1. At Suez, Padishah gave way to tears—actual wet tears—when Potter became the owner of the birds.
1896. Kipling, Seven Seas, 85. But, oh, the little cargo-boats, that sail the wet seas roun’.
Comb. 1597. Middleton, Wisd. Solomon, xix. 18. The drie-land foule, did make the sea their nest, The wet-sea fish did make the land their rest.
2. Of weather, a period of time, a locality: Rainy.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., III. iii. 102. Of untidlican ʓewideran, þæt is, of wætum sumerum, & of dryʓum wintrum.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., I. 96. As wete somers nurishen siche tares.
c. 1461. Bale’s Chron., in Six Town Chron. (1911), 145. Upon Thursday which was a wete day.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 21 b. You must not plowe in wette weather.
1634. Milton, Comus, 930. Wet Octobers torrent flood.
1685. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 382. The wettest and windiest day that I have seene.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 6 Oct. 1679. A very wet and sickly season.
1785. Burns, Halloween, xv. The simmer had been cauld an’ wat.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, xii. They had passed a long wet day together without ennui.
1861. J. H. Bennet, Shores Medit., I. vi. (1875), 161. [In] the Riviera … it is seldom or never, at the same time, cold and wet.
1863. [see SOAKING ppl. a. 6].
1877. Huxley, Physiogr., 46. The wettest spot in England being near Seathwaite in Cumberland.
b. Of the air, wind, etc.: Holding or carrying moisture in the form of vapor.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 12474. Wintur vp wacknet with his wete aire.
1883. Stevenson, Silverado Sq. (1886), 42. In the tunnel a cold, wet draught … blew.
c. Of a star: Bringing rain.
c. 1425. MS. Digby 233, lf. 225/1. At holy rode day … bygynneth þe myȝt & þe strengþe of þe wete sterre arture.
d. transf. and fig. (Cf. RAINY 2 b.)
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Gen. xi. (1662), 38. Ergo, saith the Miser, part with nothing, but keep all against a Wet day.
1691. Norris, Pract. Disc., 34. The children of this World … will [not] let slip any other advantage … of providing against a Wet Day.
1865. J. Hatton, Bitter Sweets, v. You’d most likely come down topsy-turvy, and have a werry wet welcome at the end of it.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xxix. Scotland was evidently bent on giving us a wet welcome.
e. Comb. (adj. + sb. used as an attrib. phr.).
1883. Miss Broughton, Belinda, III. vi. It was an innocent enough wet-day amusement!
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 96. The torrential downpour of the wet-season rain.
1901. Clive Holland, Mousmé, 323. Their huge wet-weather hats.
f. absol. = wet season.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 371. When the Ogowé and its neighbouring rivers come down in the ‘long wet.’ Ibid., 375. In February comes the short dry, then the short wet till May.
3. Of land or soil: Holding water, saturated with water, heavy.
a. 900. Leiden Riddle, 1. Mec se ueta uong, uundrum freoriʓ, ob his innaðae aerest caendæ.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 90. Ðeos wyrt … bið cenned ʓehwær on smeþum landum & on wætum.
a. 1023. Wulfstan, Hom. (1883), 249. Loca humentia, þæt beoð wæte stowa.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1318. Gyson, fison, tigre, eufrate, Þis four mas al þis erth wate.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XIX. 692. For I haf gert spy ws a gat. Suppos that it be sum-deill wat, A page of ouris we sall nocht tyne.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIV. 41. Þe wylde worme vnder weet erthe.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., I. xi. 968. Þe watyr of Nyle our fletis it all Withe mowynge spryngis wiþ outtyn spate, Qwhen Egipte nedis to be wate [MS. W. wait].
c. 1470. Golagros & Gaw., 35. Sa wundir wait wes the way.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 14. [Oats] wylle grow on weter grounde than any corne els.
1557. Tusser, 100 Points Husb., § 38. When pasture is gone, and the fildes mier and weate.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.), II. 286. Thay contendet to cum out of that narow and watt place ful of dubis and myres.
1625. G. Markham, Inrichment Weald Kent, 9. A cold, stiffe and wet clay.
1784. Young’s Annals Agric., II. 43. In many of their fields they are troubled with springs; they call the wet spots squalls.
1842. Bischoff, Woollen Manuf., II. 383. This is not, however, a turnip soil, being much too wet and heavy.
1847. [see SOAKING ppl. a. 6].
1911. G. Macdonald, Roman Wall Scot., v. 132. In spite of the formation of the reservoir above, the field at the bottom is still wet and marshy.
absol. 1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, viii. Miss Clara cares little for rough roads … Zounds! she can spank it over wet and dry.
fig. 1824. W. Irving, Tales Trav., II. Club Queer Fellows. A good joke grows in a wet soil,… but withers on your d—d high dry grounds.
Comb. 1778. [W. Marshall], Minutes Agric., Digest, 70. A wet-land Farm.
b. Of a crop: Grown in a moist or watery soil.
1885. W. W. Hunter, Imp. Gaz. India (ed. 2), II. 63. The most valuable of the ‘wet’ crops is sugar-cane.
4. Made damp or moist by exposure to the elements or by falling in water; sprinkled, covered or permeated with rain, dew, etc. Const. with, † of. a. of things, esp. clothing.
c. 900. Bæda’s Hist., V. xii. (1890), 436. Næfre he ða his wætan hræl & þa cealdan forlætan wolde, oðþæt hiʓ eft of his seolfes lichoman ʓewermedon & adruʓedon.
c. 1290. St. Bridget, 39, in S. Eng. Leg., 193. So gret rein ore louerd to eorþe sende Þat hire cloþes al wete weren.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 775. Aurora with the stremys of hir hete Hadde dreyed vp the dew of erbis wete.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 523/1. Weet, wythe reyne, complutus.
1471. Caxton, Recuyell (Sommer), 281. As for hercules all that he had vpon hym was weet and nothing drye.
1596. Ralegh, Discov. Guiana, 9. The weete clothes of so many men thrust together.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. i. 95. O you shall see him laugh, till his Face be like a wet Cloake, ill laid vp.
1725. Mandeville, Fab. Bees (ed. 4), I. 271. In comes the nimble Messenger smoaking hot, with his Cloaths as wet as Dung with the Rain.
1800. Wordsw., Two Thieves, 9. The traveller would hang his wet clothes on a chair.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., li. The sky was dark and gloomy,… the streets wet and sloppy. Ibid. (1853), Bleak Ho., xviii. She … slipped off her shoes and walked deliberately … through the wettest of the wet grass.
1866. Swinburne, Poems & B., An Interlude, 2. In the greenest growth of the Maytime, I rode where the woods were wet, Between the dawn and the daytime.
1884. Pae, Eustace, 13. Eustace … was not long in divesting himself of his wet garments.
b. of persons (together with their clothes) or a part of the body. Also of animals.
c. 1205. Lay., 28080. Þa wes ich al wet. & weri of sorȝen and seoc.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IV. 380. Thouch thai wate war and wery.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Reeve’s T., 187. Wery and weet as beest is in the reyn Comth sely Iohn.
1471. Caxton, Recuyell (Sommer), 279. Wherof hercules and exione were all wette of the wasshing and springyng of the wawes.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cccxxiv. 205 b. Suche as were wete & colde made fyers to warme them.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., III. i. 27. Canst thou (O partiall Sleepe) giue thy Repose To the wet Sea-Boy, in an houre so rude.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, I. xiv. He … shooke his wings with roarie May-dewes wet.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 2 Oct. 1641. We were forced to walke on foote very wett and discompos’d.
1728. Ramsay, Anacr. Love, 8. A poor young wean a’ wat!
1789. W. Blake, Songs of Innoc., Little Boy Lost, 6. The child was wet with dew.
1825. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), I. 399. The farm-house … from the warmth and good fare of which we do not mean to stir, until we can do it without the chance of a wet skin.
1849. G. P. R. James, Woodman, xlvi. Set me a sent by the fire,… and then call in the slave. He is wetter than we are.
1861. E. D. Cook, P. Foster’s Dau., i. Besides, I hate to get wet.
1918. Chamb. Jrnl., 1 Oct., 678/2. Mad as a wet hen because I refuse to take his word for it that the titles are O.K.
c. with prefixed intensive pple., as wringing (see WRINGING ppl. a.), dripping, † dropping wet. Wet through, to the skin: having one’s clothes completely saturated (cf. WET v. 4 c).
a. 1500. Flower & Leaf, 406. Wherewith they made hem stately fyres grete To dry their clothes that were wringing wete.
1526. A C. Merry Tales, No. 82 (facs.) 22 b. There fel a good showre of rayn that the skoler was well wasshyd and wete to ye skyn.
1591, 1770. [see DROPPING ppl. a. 1 c].
1611, 1764. [see SKIN sb. 5 e].
1798. Southey, Lett. (1856), I. 61. But all this does not make it the more agreeable to get wet through.
1835. W. Irving, Tour Prairies, xiii. Some dripping wet, having fallen into the river.
1840. Longf., in Life (1891), I. 359. The last eighteen miles it rained like fury, and I reached Hartford wet through.
1859. F. E. Paget, Curate Cumberworth, 343. The rain set in … so heavily, that in half an hour I was wet to the skin.
d. absol. The wet = one’s wet clothes.
17[?]. The Ploughman, iii. in Herd, Songs (1776), II. 145. Cast aff the wet, put on the dry, And gae to bed, my deary.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxvi. And then the man casts aff the wat and puts on the dry, and sits down … ahint the ingle.
5. a. Suffused with tears; moist with weeping or with being wept upon. Const. with, † of.
c. 1205. Lay., 30268. Wete weoren his wongen.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 278. Bihold mid wet eien þine scheomeful sunnen.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2356. Euerilc he kiste, on ilc he gret, Ilc here was of is teres wet.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 25999. Þat þou mai sai al wit þe prophet, Mi weping mas mi bed al wet.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 422. The pure fettres on his shynes grete Weren of his bittre salte teeres wete.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 98. Hire yhen smale and depe set, Hire chekes ben with teres wet.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, ix. 226. His eyen wexed weete agen for pite.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxii. 133. Repentence ay with cheikis wait, No pane nor pennence did eschew.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. v. 35. These her Women … who with wet cheekes were present when she finish’d.
1667. Dryden & Dk. Newcastle, Sir M. Mar-all, IV. i. Lord! her innocency makes me laugh my Cheeks all wet.
1785. Cowper, Task, IV. 17. Epistles wet With tears, that trickled down the writer’s cheeks.
1871. Bryant, Odyss., V. 105. Gazing with wet eyes upon the barren deep.
1885–94. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, May xxvi. And when at night her lover kisst her, lo! Her tender face was wet with tears of grief.
b. Suffused or covered with blood; dripping or oozing with blood. (Only of wounds, or with explicit mention of blood.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 15628. Þat was blod þan of him ran, þe place was þar-wit wett. Ibid., 24082. His bodi al blodi wat.
13[?]. Sir Orfeo, 80. Sche froted hir honden and hir fet, And crached hir visage, it bled wete.
c. 1320. Cast. Love, 1433. Þe woundes grene and weet, Wȝuche þat weoren on honden and feet.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1329. Wyde woundes & wete.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxxviii. 283. Þat swete, Þat for my loue tholed woundes wete.
1804. W. L. Bowles, Spir. Discov., IV. 24. The evil of his march through cities stormed, And regions wet with blood!
c. Moist or damp with perspiration.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 8436. Of his forhede barst the swote, That al his face ther-of was wote.
1803. Med. Jrnl., X. 84. After violent perspiration, a linen or cotton shirt becomes wet.
6. Made moist or damp by dipping in, or sprinkling or smearing with, water or other liquid.
Freq. of new printed matter (newspapers or books), esp. in the phr. wet from the press.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 264. Tho lay ther certein wode cleft, or which the pieces nou and eft Sche made hem in the pettes wete, And put hem in the fyri hete.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. lxiv. (1495), 280. The water slydeth of as it were of a wete hyde.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 48. Wete þin dyssche in þe hony, & with þe wete dyssche ley þe malmenye & þe cofyns.
1432–50. trans. Higden, I. 267. Then the white neckes schulle be humectate or made weiete with golde.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 191. Byd hym goo ynto þe chirch, and se how al þe pament ȝet ys wete of þe holy watyr.
1644. Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 53. Do we not see … weekly that continu’d Court-libell … Printed, as the wet sheets can witnes, and dispers’t among us for all that licencing can doe?
1721. E. Ward, Wand. Spy, I. (1729), 3. Then a wet Finger does its Duty, And robs the Bar-board of its Beauty.
1754. Connoisseur, No. 29, ¶ 1. I snatch up the favourite sheets wet from the press and devour every syllable.
1798. Coleridge, Recantation, xx. With the morning’s wet newspaper.
1804. Med. Jrnl., XII. 494. It should be afterwards cleaned with a wet sponge.
1835. New Monthly Mag., XLIV. 337. Just published, and wet from the press, ‘The Stranger’s Guide through Little Pedlington.’
1838. Dickens, Mem. Grimaldi, I. vii. 186. No sooner did they arrive wet from the press, than men on horseback were immediately despatched with them to Canterbury.
1839. De Quincey, Wordsw. & Southey, Wks. 1889, II. 316. Wordsworth’s habits of using books … were not vulgar; not the habits of those who turn over the page by means of a wet finger.
1850. F. K. Hunt, Fourth Estate, II. 220. Just as the wet Newspaper, fresh from the Newsboy, is being opened at the eight o’clock breakfast table of the early-rising city merchant.
1859. FitzGerald, Omar, xxxvi. I watch’d the Potter thumping his wet Clay.
† b. With a wet finger: easily, with little effort. Also (b) readily, without hesitation; (c) slightly, lightly. Obs.
Perh. from the practice of wetting the first or second finger on one’s tongue in order to facilitate turning over the leaves of a book or to rub out writing on a slate. Cf. quots. 1721 and 1839 in 6.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., To Rdr. *iv. A large and plain table … whereby … to any good matier in the booke conteined, readie waye and recourse maye with a weat fynger easily bee found out.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 78. With a wet fynger ye can fet, As muche as maie easyly all this matter ease.
1569. Rare Tri. Love & Fortune, III. C 4. And I can finde One with a wet finger that is starke blinde.
1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super., 2. I hate brawles with my hart: and can turne-ouer A volume of wronges with a wett finger.
1600. Wisd. Dr. Dodypoll, III. E 3 b. Flo. Canst thou bring me thither? Pea[sant]. With a wet finger sir.
1644. Featly, Roma Ruens, 5. I could with a wet finger produce divers decrees of Popes … flat repugnant one to the other.
1690. C. Nesse, O. & N. Test., I. 293. How easily … even with a wet finger, (as we say) could God … have overturned Jacob.
1728. [De Foe], Street-Robberies, 47. When our Tryal came on, we got clear with a wet Finger, as the Folks say.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1768), V. 152. If thou likest her, I get her for thee with a wet finger, as the saying is!
1754. Foote, Knts., I. 15. If Dame Winifred was here, she’d make ’em all out with a wet Finger; but they are above me.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xii. If we could but find ony ane to say she had gien the least hint o’ her condition, she wad be brought aff wi’ a wat finger.
(b) 1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 39. The broker will giue mony for them, with a wet finger.
1604. Dekker, Honest Wh., I. A 4. If ever I stand in neede of a wenche that will come with a wet finger.
(c) 1586. [? J. Case], Praise Mus., vii. 79. To let passe all generalities which I touched before with a wet finger.
1624. Gataker, Transubst., 45. The slightnesse and slendernesse of his Answeres, with a wet finger (as we say) passing by the manifold allegations produced.
c. in other proverbial expressions.
To cover oneself with a wet sack: see SACK sb.1 3.
1561. trans. Calvin’s 4 Serm. Idol., i. A iij b. Thinking that he is escaped when he is couered, as the common saying is, vnder a wette sack.
1578. H. Wotton, Courtlie Controv., 61. For so many pleasures vanished, as an Ele through a wette hande.
1579, a. 1651. [see SACK sb.1 3].
1616. Drake, Bibl. Scholast., 218. He holdeth a wet eele by the taile.
1679. Lett. Gent. Romish Rel. to Brother, 32. There being no more hold of them than of a wet Eel by the tail.
d. To come with a wet sail: to make swift progress to victory, like a ship with sails wetted in order to keep close to the wind.
1876. Coursing Calendar, 326. Westeria, coming with a wet sail, rushed by and ultimately killed.
1901. Daily Express, 18 March, 8/1. Bury, who were expected to come with a wet sail, went down before their local rivals at Bolton.
7. Of timber: Full of sap, unseasoned.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1480. And as it queynte, it made a whistlynge, As doon thise wete brondes in hir brennynge.
1468–9. Stonor Papers (Camden), I. 103. Let not hit be wete tymbyr in hond.
1900. Hueffer, in Academy, 18 Aug., 127/2. The wet-wood smoke drives us winking blind.
1906. H. Van Dyke, Ideals, xii. 266. Wet wood will not burn.
8. Of paint, varnish, ink: Not yet dry, sticky, liable to smudge.
1519. [see BLOTTING-PAPER].
1552–3. in in Feuillerat, Revels Edw. VI. (1914), 139. For drying of stayning paynting and other wett pasted and mowlded woorkes.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., V. iii. 81. The ruddinesse vpon her Lippe is wet: You’le marre it, if you kisse it.
1850. Miss Mulock, Olive, xx. (1890), 157. Ha! don’t come near my picture. The paint’s wet. Get away.
1883. M. E. James, How to Decorate, 19. Remember that tempera is many shades lighter when it is dry than when it is wet.
1914. ‘Bartimeus,’ Nav. Occas., vii. (1916), 50. The younger girl wiped a foot of wet paint of the coaming of a hatch, and said sweetly it didn’t matter in the least.
9. Fort. Of a ditch: Containing water.
For the sense cf. WET DOCK.
1590. Sir R. Williams, Discourse War, 50. No drie ditch can bee compared for strength vnto a wet ditch.
1813. Ann. Reg., App. to Chron., 150. The whole of the fortification is surrounded by a wet ditch.
1869. Tozer, Highl. Turkey, II. 193. The citadel is separated from the mainland by a wet ditch of artificial construction.
10. Of fish: a. Cured with salt or brine. b. Fresh, not dried.
a. c. 1580. in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1914), July, 523. Wett newland fishe, ye c, 1 li. Drye fishe, the hondert, 0 li. 10 sh.
1580. R. Hitchcock, Polit. Plat, a iv. Twentie thousande of the beste and middle sort of wette fishe (at the leaste) called blanckfish, and tenne thousande drie fishe.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4421/7. The Cargo of the Prize-Ship Margaret of Nantz, consisting of about 11000 Wett, or Mud-fish.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 64. The preparation of white herrings … consists of packing the fish in salt, which soon turns to brine, and this method of preparation is termed the ‘wet cure.’
b. 1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 62/2. All fresh fish is ‘wet’; all cured or salted fish, ‘dry.’
1899. Daily News, 14 Jan., 5/1. The inexpensive kinds of fish are cod, hake, skate, sprats, and ‘wet’ haddock.
11. Of confections: Preserved in syrup; of a syrupy nature. Of surgical or natural-history specimens: Bottled in spirits.
1612. Sc. Bk. Rates, in Halyburton’s Ledger (1867), 312. Wett confectionis—Preserved barbareis … Marmalad [etc.].
1686. trans. Chardin’s Trav. Persia, 259. Sweat-meats Dry and Wet, upon small Porcelaine Plates.
1836. [Mrs. Traill], Backw. Canada, 46. The American Crab, these beautiful little scarlet apples so often met with as a wet preserve among our sweetmeats at home.
1867. Latham, Black & White, 87. The ‘wet specimens,’ those bottled in spirits.
1891. Century Dict., Wet preparation, a specimen of natural history immersed in alcohol.
12. Of measure: Used for liquid articles. ? Obs.
1597. Skene, De Verb. Signif., s.v. Gangiatores, Al measures, weichts, baith dry & weete.
1622. Malynes, Lex Mercat., 39. The Romanes in times past, called the wet Measure by Ounces, as wee doe the weight.
1638. L. Roberts, Merch. Map Comm., II. 238. Wet Measures are also derived from this pound Troy.
13. Med. a. Designating certain diseases that are characterized by moist secretions.
1565. Blundevil, Curing Horses Dis., lxix. (1580), 29. I call it the wet cough, bicause the horse in his coughing, will voide moiste matter at his mouth. Ibid., cxxvii. 58. Of the wet Spauen, or through Spauen.
1898. P. Manson, Trop. Diseases, xiv. 232. The paralytic-atrophic cases are designated ‘dry beriberi’ or beriberi atrophica; the dropsical cases, ‘wet beriberi’ or beriberi hydrops.
1899. Syd. Soc. Lex., Wet brain, Wet scald, Wet tetter.
b. Wet cup, cupping: see CUPPING vbl. sb. 1.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 175. Wet-cupping the loins to the extent of several ounces may be of service.
1913. Dorland, Med. Dict., Wet-cup, a cupping-glass to be used after scarification.
c. Designating various modes of hydropathic treatment, as in wet bandage, compress, pack, packing, sheet.
1843. Sir C. Scudamore, Med. Visit Gräfenberg, 16. Wet Bandages.
1848, 1870. [see COMPRESS sb. 1].
1859, 1899. [see PACK sb.1 11].
1874. [see PACKING vbl. sb.1 1 c].
1874. Bucknill & Tuke, Psychol. Med. (ed. 3), 754. The Wet Sheet or Wet Pack … acts as an energetic sudorific.
fig. c. 1864. J. B. Paton, in Life (1914), 85. We cannot submit to have these men … wrapped in the eternal wet-sheet of a monastic college.
14. colloq. a. Primed with liquor; more or less intoxicated. (Cf. WET v. 7 b.)
1704. Prior, Celia to Damon, 66. When my lost Lover the tall Ship ascends, With Musick gay, and wet with Iovial Friends.
1834. Coleridge, Table T., 20 Jan. Some men are like musical glasses;—to produce their finest tones, you must keep them wet.
b. Addicted to drink.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Wet-Quaker, a Drunkard of that Sect.
c. 1713. in Aitken, Steele (1889), I. 395. It’s a very wet town, and the voters are wet too.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Words, Wet-hand, a drunken person.
1900. ‘R. Guthrie,’ Kitty Fagan, 207. It might keep some o’ the wet hands oot o’ the pub.
c. transf.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse, Wks. (Grosart), II. 57. Those that keep a wet corner for a friend, and will not thinke scorne to drinke with a good fellowe and a Souldior.
1805. [see BARGAIN sb.1 7].
1824. W. Irving, Tales Trav., II. Club Queer Fellows. His jokes, it must be confessed, were rather wet, but they suited the circle over which he presided.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xi. As he knew he should have a wet night, it was agreed that he might gallop back again in time for church on Sunday morning.
1905. Vachell, The Hill, iii. 49. Some of us had a wet night of it, last night.
15. colloq. Of a Quaker: Not very strict in the observances of his sect. (See also 14 b.)
1700. T. Brown, Amusem. Ser. & Com., Wks. 1720, III. 29. Would you buy any naked Truth, or Light in a dark Lanthorn? Look in the Wet-Quakers Walk.
a. 1708. T. Ward, England’s Reform., II. (1710), 44. Quakers, and Wet-Quakers, or Merry-ones.
1785. Geo. A. Bellamy, Apol. Life (ed. 3), I. xiii. 78. I had not indeed dressed myself with the studied formality of a rigid Quaker, but only so plain and neat as to entitle me to the denomination of a wet Quaker; a distinction that arises chiefly from the latter’s wearing ribbands, gauzes, and laces.
1838. Bentley’s Miscell., IV. 297. Who has not heard of … a wet Quaker? who thees and yays, wears no collar to his coat…; but is in other respects … living that sort of life which, in England, is called that of a jolly dog.
1839. Marryat, Diary Amer., Ser. I. I. 255. Mr. Buffum … was dressed as what is termed a wet Quaker.
1866. Carlyle, in Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 53. An enthusiastic young ‘Wet-Quaker.’
transf. 1831. W. Irving, Life & Lett. (1864), II. 461. Mine host, the Rev. C. R. Reaston Rodes … is a kind of wet parson, if I may borrow that phrase from the Quakers.
1855. Newman, Callista, vi. (1856), 48. Ageilius is but a wet Christian;… not obstinate, like his brother there.
1876. March. Dufferin, Canad. Jrnl. (1891), 295. I believe our one friend here is a ‘wet’ Mormon, and at his house, where we spent the evening, we only met one-wifed men.
16. a. Consisting of alcoholic liquor.
1779. Remembrancer, VIII. 277. Saturday last arrived here from Cadiz, a polacre, with a large and general assortment of dry and wet goods.
1837. J. Cottle, Early Recoll., I. 320. I think he carries on a snug business in the smuggling line, and … is on the look-out for some wet cargo.
1882. Daily News, 31 Jan., 2/1. The central office for ‘wet goods,’ i.e., wines and spirits.
1884. Chamb. Jrnl., 26 Jan., 58/2. Casks of vinous liquors, technically known as ‘wet goods.’
b. Concerned with the sale and consumption of alcoholic liquor.
1892. [see DRY a. 11 a].
1899. H. Wyndham, Queen’s Service, 97. Canteens … are known as either ‘wet’ or ‘dry.’ In the former, beer, porter, and stout, but no spirits, are sold. Ibid., 98. The hours during which ‘wet’ Canteens are open for business are usually from 12–12.45 in the morning, and from 1.30–9.30 P.M.
1913. R. H. Gretton, Mod. Hist. Engl. People, I. 90. Whereas at ports the customs arrangements allowed ‘bonding’ on a large scale, there was no such possibility in inland towns, except in some ‘wet’ trades.
c. U.S. Permitting the sale of alcoholic liquor: accepting or adhering to this as a principle; opposed to the prohibition of the liquor traffic. Freq. in recent use.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., liv. II. 350, note. Some States, e.g. Georgia, have adopted a local option system, under which each county decides whether it will be ‘wet’ or ‘dry’ (e.g. permit or forbid the sale of intoxicants).
1908. Westm. Gaz., 20 May, 12/1. A map of the United States, with prohibition States white, licence States black, and States partly ‘dry’ and partly ‘wet’ under local option indicated by shading.
1919. H. L. Wilson, Ma Pettengill, 36. Like a cowhand with three months’ pay hitting a wet town.
d. absol. or quasi-sb. (from prec. sense).
1906. Mission Field, Aug., 144. The ‘wets’ would carry such cities as Guthrie, Oklahoma City and Shawnee.
1919. Blackw. Mag., Nov., 657/1. The party calling themselves ‘The Wets’ still believed that the President would intervene to avert such legislation.
1920. [A. G. Gardiner], Windfalls, 17. He [the wasp] shares man’s weakness for beer. In the language of America, he is a ‘wet.’
17. Designating various technical processes or operations.
1800. trans. Lagrange’s Chem., I. 398. Analysis by the wet way.
1807. Aikin, Dict. Chem., II. 427. Tin is soluble in acid of tartar, and this solution is of importance in manufacture, as it is the method by which wet tinning is performed on copper and brass.
1854. C. Tomlinson, Obj. Art-Manuf., Paper, 24. The paper … is subjected to a second pressure, called wet pressing, by which a further portion of the water is got rid of.
1859. Reeve, Brittany, 6. The wet collodion process.
1878. Abney, Treat. Photogr., vii. 50. The following are collodions … for the wet process.
1882. Imperial Dict., Wet-puddling, in metallurgy, pig-boiling.
1887. Encycl. Brit., XXII. 70/2. A convenient wet-way method for small quantities is to boil the recently precipitated chloride … with caustic soda-ley.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 989. The dangers consequent upon the manufacture of arsenic have been much diminished … by what is technically known as the ‘wet method.’
18. Naut. Or a vessel: Liable to ship water over the bows or gunwale.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, x. She was what sailors term rather a wet one, and the sea broke continually over her bows.
1884. W. Clark Russell, Jack’s Courtship, xvii. The Strathmore … had the reputation of being a very fast sailer, though what is termed a wet ship.
1891. M. Roberts, Land-travel & Sea-faring, 9. The Seringapatam was a very ‘wet ship,’ that is, she was very much inclined to ship heavy seas.
19. In combination with pa. pples.: a. predicative, as wet-crushed, -picked, salted, situated, spun, woaded.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 419. The cost of drying the *wet-crushed ore.
1885. Encycl. Brit., XVIII. 225/2. It [esparto] is again *‘wet-picked’ after boiling.
1885. H. M. Newhall in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 274/1. Hides brought to the tannery in this condition are known as *‘wet salted.’
1765. A. Dickson, Treat. Agric. (ed. 2), 471. When clay land is *wet situated.
1901. Scotsman, 1 April, 11/1. The demand for *wet spun yarns.
1660. Fuller, Mixt Contempl., xlix. 76. What may be the cause why so much cloth so soon changeth colour! It is because it was never *wet wadded, which giveth the fixation to a colour.
b. parasynthetic, as wet-bottomed, -eyed, -feeted, -footed, -lipped.
1812. Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., I. 222. *Wet-bottomed land.
1886. C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 89. Much wet-bottomed land … is ill suited for rearing lambs.
18[?]. Leigh Hunt, Robin Hood & Outlaws, xvii. Never woman [came] for redress, And went away *wet-eyed.
1891. T. Hardy, Tess, xl. He knelt down at the bedside wet-eyed.
1864. Dickens, Mrs. Lirriper’s Legacy, i. It was in vain for me to … tell him he’d be … *wet-feeted to death by the slop and mess.
1833. Hood, Public Dinner, 174. *Wet-footed, spoilt-beaver’d,… You haste home to supper.
1856. Miss Yonge, Daisy Chain, I. vi. She has come home wet-footed and cold.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 232. The *wet-lipped West wind.
20. Special collocations (see also 13 above): wet bargain (see BARGAIN sb.1 7); wet bob [BOB sb.7], a boy at Eton who devotes himself to boating; also gen.; wet-bulb, designation of that one of the two thermometers of a psychrometer the bulb of which is covered with muslin, which is wetted at the time of observation so as to indicate the ‘temperature of evaporation’; † wet cloth, cloth that has been wetted in the process of fulling; wet cooper (see COOPER sb.1 1); wet fly Angling (see quot. 1875); also attrib.; wet frost, a frost accompanied by damp air; † wet glover (see GLOVER b); † wet larder, one where moist or liquid provisions were stored; wet meter, a gas-meter in which the gas passes through a body of water; wet plate Photogr., a sensitized collodion plate exposed in the camera while the collodion is moist; also attrib.; wet rot, decay in timber caused by excessive moisture; † wet-salter (in contrast to DRY-SALTER); wet steam (see quot.).
1865, 1886. *wet bob [see BOB sb.7].
1872. Daily News, 7 Aug., 5/2. The ‘wetbobs’ of the Solent are not so absolutely the creatures of the weather office as the ‘drybobs’ of Canterbury, whose patron saint is St. Lawrence.
1901. D. Sladen, My Son Richard, i. Only on the river they have this much mutual respect for each other—each recognises that the other is a good wetbob.
1849. Eastwick, Dry Leaves, 228. The *wet-bulb Thermometer was generally 10° lower than the dry one till the beginning of June.
1916. Lancet, 15 Jan., 142/2. A man … can do far more work with less fatigue at a low wet-bulb temperature than at a high one.
1435. Coventry Leet Bk., 172. No walker … Shall Rakke no Clothe on the Teyntur that schall be solde ffor *wette-clothe.
1439. Rolls of Parlt., V. 30/2. Mesurynge for the dosenne or wete Clothe xii yerdes and xii ynches, and of secce Clothe nought wete, xiiii yerdes and xiiii ynches.
1875. F. Francis, in Encycl. Brit., II. 38/2. In the majority of instances it is the custom to let the tackle soak, and when fishing to allow the fly to sink a little under the surface—to fish with a *‘wet fly,’ as it is called.
1904. Gallichan, Fishing Spain, 207. The ordinary winged patterns used for wet-fly fishing.
1832. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 382. Wall-fruit is, when destroyed in the spring, never destroyed by dry-cold; but ninety-nine times out of a hundred, by *wet-frosts.
1688, 1724. *wet glover [see GLOVER b].
1726. Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), s.v., The Wet-glover is for Sheep, Goats, Lambs, and Castlings Skins…; for the dressing whereof, he only uses Lime and Bran.
1544. Inv., in Surrey Archæol. Collect., VII. 238. The dry larder…. The Kechyn…. The *Whet larder. Itm in the Wett larder A musterd quern, iiij d.
1574. Richmond Wills (Surtees), 247. In the wett larder ii kymlinges, one trowghe.
1605. in Archæologia, XIII. 330. The Clarcke of the Kittchine … is to see into the wette and drie larders, what provisions there bee.
c. 1865. Letheby, in Wylde’s Circ. Sci., I. 127/1. There are two objections to the *wet meter, which are insurmountable.
1869–71. Cassell’s Househ. Guide, II. 17/2. The gas meters now in general use … are known as ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ meters.
1859. Reeve, Brittany, 123. Our camera, already charged with a *wet plate.
1878. Abney, Treat. Photogr., xi. 77. Wet-plate photography.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. viii. Sparrows were there, cats were there, dry-rot and *wet-rot were there.
1876. Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, 161. Wet-rot is the destructive agent at work more or less on all telegraph poles.
1726. De Foe, Eng. Tradesman, I. viii. 98. The orange-merchants and *wet-salters about Billingsgate.
1858. R. Murray, Marine Engines (ed. 3), 237. *Wet steam is steam which holds watery particles in mechanical suspension.
