Forms: α. Inf. 1 wǽtan, Anglian wétan, 3–6 wete, (5 Sc. wet, vete), 4–7 weete, (6 pa. t. weeted), 5–6 Sc. weit, 6 weate, 7 weat, 6– (chiefly Sc.) weet. Pa. t. 1 wǽtte, 3 watte, 4 wat, (5 pl. watten), 6– Sc. wat; 4–5 wete, (5 Sc. vet), 4–6 wette, 4–7 wett, 5– wet. Pa. pple. 4–5 y-wet, y-wette, 4–6 i-wet, wette, (5 Sc. wete, vete), 5–7 wett, 4– wet. β. Inf. 5–6 wette, 6–7 wett, 6– wet. Pa. t. and pple. 6– wetted. [OE. wǽtan (Angl. wétan), f. wǽt (wét) WET a., = ON. vǽta (Icel., Norw. væta, Sw. väta, Da. væde). The normal shortening of the vowel in the pa. t. and pa. pple. in ME. was finally extended to the infin. and present.]
I. trans.
1. To make (an object) humid or moist by the application of water or other liquid; to suffuse, sprinkle, moisten, drench, bathe with (water, etc.); to dip, steep, soak in, † on.
a. 950. Guthlac, xxii. (Prose). Heo … ʓenam þa þæs ʓehalʓodan sealtes … and wætte and drypte in þa eaʓan.
a. 1000. Riddles, xii[i]. 10. Hwilum mec … dol druncmennen … wæteð in wætre.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 134. Wæt þæt liþ mid ecede. Ibid., 350. Wæt þæt ʓewrit on þam drence.
c. 1275. Passion of Our Lord, 103, in O. E. Misc., 40. Þat bred þat ich on wyne wete.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17682. And wit a deu mi face he wette.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, III. 1115. Therwith his pows and pawnies of his hondes They gan to frote, and wete his temples tweyne.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 36. Send Lazar doun … And do that he his finger wete In water.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2332. There barbours ware bownne, with basyns one lofte, With warme watire i-wys they wette theme fulle sone.
c. 1400. Maundev., xviii. [xiv.] (1919), 105. Ȝif a man … wete hem with may dew ofte sithes.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 52. Take fayre Paynemayn y-wette in Wyne.
1550[?]. W. P., trans. Curio’s Pasquin in Trance, 24. They … wet the graue with vnholy water, and they perfumed it with Frankincense.
1560. Whitehorne, Ord. Souldiours (1588), 39 b. A stoppell of cotten wet in oyle of gineper.
1677. J. White, Rich Cabinet, 143. You must let the Paper dry of it self after you have once wetted it.
1684. J. S., Profit & Pleas. United, 23. Cleansing their mouths … with a spung or Linnen cloath wett in Beer.
1707. Ir. Act 4 Geo. I., c 11 § 13. If any of the persons aforesaid shall … wet their hay, or use any other fraud or deceit to make any carr-lond of hay to be of the weight prescribed.
c. 1770. T. Fairfax, Compl. Sportsm., 31. Then having wetted your hand in water, rub his body all over.
1813. Southey, Nelson, I. 235. All the shrouds and sails of his ship, which were not absolutely necessary for its immediate management, were thoroughly wetted.
1859. Handbk. Turning, 83. A small camel’s-hair brush … used for wetting postage stamps.
1869. Claridge, Cold Water Cure, 190. Her head, throat, and chest, were frequently wetted with cold water.
1907. J. A. Hodges, Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6), 103. As soon as the paper is wetted with the solution.
Proverb. 1546. J. Heywood, Prov., II. v. (1867), 58. He loueth well sheeps flesh, that wets his bred in the wul.
2. To suffuse with tears, bedew with weeping. Also said of the tears.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, vi. 7. Mid tearum strene mine ic wetu.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter vi. 6. With mi teres in mi bede Sal i wete mi liggynge-stede.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., xv. 47. Un-wunne haveth myn wonges wet.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xviii. (Egipciane), 950. Quhen I had lange tyme gret, & al myn face with teris wete.
14[?]. Sir Beues, p. 35 (MS. E.). So moche reweþe he hadde þere Þat þe teres watten hys lere.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 44. And all the way she wetts with flowing teares.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., ix. 1. Is it for feare to wet a widdowes eye, That thou consum’st thy selfe in single life?
1614. J. Cooke, Greene’s Tu Quoque, B 3 b. Giue not your friends cause to wet their handkerchers.
1616. B. Jonson, Epigr., xxxiii. Who wets my graue, can be no friend of mine.
1682. Bunyan, Holy War (1905), 289. Then they … kissed his feet, and wetted them with tears.
1742. Fielding, J. Andrews, III. xii. A river of tears ran down her lovely cheeks, and wet the handkerchief which covered her bosom.
1836. Landor, Pericles & Aspasia, lx. Her tears wetted my cheek.
1868. Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women, xii. Laying her head on her arm, Jo wet her little romance with a few happy tears.
† 3. Of wine: To moisten, fill with moist ‘humours.’ Obs.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 246. Ne þæt win is to þicgenne þætte hæteþ & wæteþ þone Innoþ.
1560. Googe, trans. Palingenius’ Zodiac, III. (1561), F iij. Apace we feede and scarce canne ryse, so wetes the wyne our brayne.
4. To make moist or damp by exposure to rain, by a fall into water, or the like. To wet through, to the skin: to drench the clothes of (a person). a. Said of water, rain, etc.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 6578. Þat water … wax euere uaste,… & watte is sson & is vet.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 23685. Waters þat wete þan cristes flexs.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, II. 25. Þe water wolde … wete [MS. γ weete] al her cloþes.
c. 1480. Henryson, Age & Youth, 4. Perly dropis of þe balmy schowris Þir wodis grene hed with þe watter wet.
1530. Palsgr., 780/2. In the begynnyng of the yere the dewe weteth the grounde swetely.
1589. Pappe w. Hatchet, in Lyly’s Wks. (Bond), III. 394. Wé care not for a Scottish mist, though it wet vs to the skin.
1600. W. Watson, Decacordon (1602), 218. Men … of as bad a nature and base a moulde as euer water wette, or winde dried.
1658. Nicholas Papers (Camden), IV. 57. Wee had not above 4 shots of powder and that the worst that euer water wet.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, an. 1646. These waters in some places breaking in the fall wett us as if we had pass’d through a mist.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, II. (Globe), 554. The Place was not deep, but it wetted me all over.
1795. Southey, Lett. fr. Spain (1799), 60. The clouds wetted me as they passed along.
1816. Tuckey, Narr. Exped. R. Zaire, v. (1818), 179. During the night we had two smart showers of rain, which … wetted us through.
1839. Dickens, Nickleby, xiv. ‘It doesn’t take much to wet you and me through, Mr. Crowl,’ said Newman, laying his hand upon the lappel of his threadbare coat.
1858. Lardner, Hand-bk. Nat. Phil., 73. If a capillary tube be plunged in a liquid which wets it.
1874. March. Dufferin, Canad. Jrnl. (1891), 171. A thunder-shower … which wetted us to the skin.
1884. Law Times Rep., LI. 229/2. The water … soaked under the wall and wetted the mud below it.
fig. a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xvii. 17. Apparuerunt fontes aquarum … þat is þe sothfastnes of prechours is seen, þat wetis men wiþ halesome lare.
1627. E. F., Hist. Edw. II. (1680), 93. What can he do to England, which hath a wooden wall will wet his courage?
b. absol.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace, 10340. Wyþ rysyng wawes,… Fer aboute hym wil he [the lake] wete. Ibid., 10343. Þe wawes þat so wetes.
a. 1600. Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, v. 44. All is not gold that gleitis … Nor water all that weitis.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., III. ii. 27. The propertie of raine is to wet, and fire to burne.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 373. All they ever have is a dew, which is so slender it never wets at all.
1661. Boyle, Physiol. Ess. (1669), 187. Though every wetting Liquor be fluid, yet every fluid Body does not wet.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, I. 82. The purest water wets soonest and most.
c. passive. Often to be wet through, (also † thorough or through wet), wet to the skin (cf. a).
The form wet of the pa. pple. is sometimes difficult to distinguish from WET a. 4 c.
c. 1400. trans. Higden, VII. 151. In processe of tyme þat body y-wette wiþ dewy droppes knewe þe comoun corrupcioun of dedly men.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 12942. So faste doun the water ȝet, That thei were alle thorow wet.
1497. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 129. The Newe making of a last of gonnepoudre wett in saltwater.
1535. Coverdale, Dan. iv. 15. With the dew of heauen shall he be wet.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 99 b. But if he had been wetted from toppe to toe, no man standyng by to see it, then had he been miserable in veraye deede.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xvii. (Arb.), 189. As the drie ground that thirstes after a showr Seemes to reioyce when it is well iwet.
1594. [see THROUGH adv. 4].
1639. J. Taylor (Water P.), Part Summers Trav., 44. So that the miserable Stipend … will hardly buy wood to make a fire for him when hee comes home to dry him, when hee is through wet.
1659. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 141. Hee … was wett to the skin before he came half way.
1759. Johnson, Idler, No. 71, ¶ 9. He … heard with great delight a shower, by which he was not wet, rattling among the branches.
a. 1766. Mrs. F. Sheridan, Sidney Bidulph (1796), IV. 53. The bottom of that vile ditch into which he had fallen was full of water, and he had been wet quite through.
1775. A. Burnaby, Trav. N. Amer., 36. I had been wet to the skin in the afternoon.
1820. Southey, Wesley, I. 78. Having slept on the floor one night, because his bed had been wetted in a storm.
1842. Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Engin., II. 78. Some of the compressed trenails had been wetted by accident, and could not be afterwards driven into the holes in the chairs.
1856. Hawthorne, Engl. Note-bks. (1870), II. 14. We were caught in two or three showers … but got back … without being very much wetted.
1898. A. Balfour, To Arms! vii. 111. The street was paved with large, rounded stones, and the sidewalks were splashed and wetted by dirty water thrown from above.
1904. A. N. Cooper, Quaint Talks, 10. Few things have struck people as more wonderful than how I have survived being wet through so often.
5. Of a person or animal: To get (oneself, one’s body or clothes, also another person or object) moist or damp by contact with, or immersion in, water or other liquid.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 204. Sir kyng rise vp & skip, for þou has wette þi hater.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 129. She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle Ne wette hir fyngres in hir sauce depe.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), vi. 21. Þat wymmen schuld mow wade ouer and noȝt wete þaire kneesse.
1589. Hakluyt, Voy., 542. When they can flye no further [they] fall into the water, and hauing wette their wings take a newe flight againe.
1639. J. Taylor (Water P.), Part Summers Trav., 40. You know you need not wet your foot to seek them, they are your own already.
1770. C. Jenner, Placid Man, V. vii. II. 142. If you can be contented … to return at night,… having in four or five hours tired a pair of conch-horses, wetted two servants to the skin [etc.].
1816. G. S. Faber, Orig. Pagan Idol., I. 399. Every morning they [certain aquatic birds] repaired to the sea, wetted their wings, and sprinkled the sacred edifice.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xiii. Twa finer dentier wild-ducks never wat a feather.
1846. Mrs. A. Marsh, Father Darcy, xliv. In traversing the ford of the Stour … they have wetted the bag of powder.
1873. March. Dufferin, Canad. Jrnl. (1891), 82. The gentlemen … in getting into the canoe … were upset, and wet all their clothes.
b. Proverb.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 1785. For ye be lyke the sweynte catte, That wolde haue fissh but … He wold no thinge wete his clowes.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 39. As a cat wolde ete fisshes Withoute wetinge of his cles.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 405. Þou woldest not weten þy fote, & woldest fich kacchen.
1545. Taverner, Erasm. Prov., 59 b. The cat wold fyshe eate, but she woll not her fete weate.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., I. xi. (1867), 28.
1639. J. Clarke, Parœm., 234. The Cat loves fish well, but is loath to wet her foot.
c. To void urine in (one’s bed, clothes).
1767. Ordinary’s Acc. Eliz. Brownrigg, 10. The deceased child had wetted the bed.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 259. The man who wets his bed, rather than take the trouble to get out and make water, is insanely idle.
6. Of a river, sea, etc.: a. To water, irrigate (land).
1382. Wyclif, Josh. xiii. 3. The trubli flood that weetith [Vulg. irrigat] Egipt.
a. 1425. Cursor M., 1318 (Trin.). Fison, gison, tigre & eufrate, Al erþe þese weten erly & late.
1773. Fergusson, Leith Races, iv. I dwall amang the caller springs That weet the Land o’ Cakes.
b. To lave, border with water (a coast, country). rare.
1572. T. Twyne, trans. Dionysius’ Surv. World, A v. The Sea … which … wetting the countrie Issica … is called Issicum.
a. 1774. Fergusson, Auld Reekie, 319. As lang as Forth weets Lothian’s shore.
7. a. To wet (one’s) whistle, weasand, mouth, etc.: to take a drink. See also CLAY sb. 4 b.
c. 1386. [see WHISTLE sb. 2].
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xiii. 103. Had She oones Wett Hyr Whystyll She couth Syng full clere Hyr pater noster.
1530, 1653. [see WHISTLE sb. 2].
1611. Cotgr., Crocquer la pie, to wet the whistle, or weason, throughly; to drinke hard.
1682. N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, II. 154. Wetting their Whistles with the good Ale-pot.
1722. Croxall, Fables Æsop, xcviii. 169. I’ll give you a Dram to wet your Whistle.
a. 1774. Fergusson, Auld Reekie, 4. Whare couthy chiels at e’ening meet Their bizzing craigs and mous to weet.
1785. Burns, Scotch Drink, xiv. Monie daily weet their weason Wi’ liquors nice.
1850. Dickens, Copperfield, vii. The wine shall be kept to wet your whistle.
1888. R. Buchanan, Heir of Linne, i. I ne’er can sing till my throat’s wetted, Tammas.
1910. W. H. Hudson, Sheph. Life, xi. 135. When they [starlings] are feasting on fruit—singing and talking and swallowing elderberries between whiles to wet their whistles.
† b. passive. To be primed with liquor. (Cf. WET a. 14 a.) Obs.
c. 1440. Partonope, 5198. And so they dronke þat boþe they bene Welle I-wette [Rawl. MS. Well wet].
1540. Hyrde, trans. Vives’ Instr. Chr. Wom., III. i. (1557), 130. At bankettes and festes, whan they be well wette with drynke.
† c. refl. To imbibe liquor, take drink. Obs.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxx. 94. Itt were appreue to my persone Þat preuely ȝe paste me, Or ye wente fro this wones Or with wynne ȝe had wette yowe.
1672. R. Wild, Poet. Licent., 27. And if the fiery trial should return, Most of you wet your selves too much to burn.
d. To wet the other (or t’other) eye: to drink one glass after another.
1745. Life Bampfylde-Moore Carew, 89. The Officers … filled him out a Bumper of Cherry Brandy, which when he had drank they forced another upon him, persuading him to wet the other Eye.
1840. J. T. J. Hewlett, P. Priggins, xiii. Take one more jug of beer—wet t’other eye, we call it.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, lxii. Moisten your clay, wet the other eye, drink, man!
a. 1845. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Hints Hist. Play, 47. There’s not a drop left him to ‘wet t’other eye.’
e. absol. To drink alcoholic liquor; to ‘liquor up.’
1840. Haliburton, Clockm., Ser. III. xi. 147. But come, let’s liquour; I want to wet up.
1880. Baring-Gould, Mehalah, xxi. I’m dry after my row and want a wet. As I wet I will talk.
f. To accompany (solid or dry food) with liquor.
1878. T. Hardy, Ret. Native, VI. iv. Maul down the victuals from corner-cupboard … and I’ll draw a drop o’ sommat to wet it with.
8. To celebrate by drinking; to have a drink over.
The earliest use is to wet a commission (in the Army or Navy).
a. 1687. Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.), Milit. Couple, Wks. 1715, I. 128. He was as Drunk as a Chaplain of the Army upon wetting his Commission.
1698. J. H., Farquhar’s Love & Bottle, Prol. Come on then; foot to foot be boldly set, And our young Author’s new Commission wet.
1710. C. Shadwell, Fair Quaker Deal, II. 27. Crib. Ay, the two Ships would serve us nicely. Easey. Then we should have Commissions to wet.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 88, ¶ 4. Three Quarts to my new Lord for wetting his Title.
1827. L. Beecher, Lect. Intemperance, 28–9. Until in some places a man can scarcely wear an article of dress, or receive one of equipage or furniture, which has not been ‘wet.’
1829. Marryat, F. Mildmay, xvi. They … declared I should give them a dinner to wet my commission.
1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, 268. I shall be back again shortly, when we will wet the deal.
1894. A. Robertson, Nuggets, 16. Drinks is to be redooced to-day from a shillin’ to sixpence, so we’ll wet the occasion.
9. † a. Naut. To cast or drop (an anchor). Obs.
a. 1600. Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, xlviii. 168. We wat ane anchor evin betuixt they tua.
1638. Mayne, Lucian (1664), 95. One Anchor more, perhappes, I have never yet cast, or wet, which is to pretend old age, sicknesse, [etc.].
b. To wet one’s line: to start fishing, to fish.
1653. Walton, Angler, iii. 80. I have not yet wet my line since I came from home.
1898. G. A. B. Dewar, In Pursuit of Trout, 165. On days when nothing was doing … he might not rarely be heard remarking that he had not wetted his line.
10. a. To steep or soak (grain) in water in order to convert it into malt.
1695. Lond. Gaz., No. 3076/4. A large Mault House that wets 700 Quarters per Annum.
1742. Lond. & Country Brew., I. (ed. 4), 22. In a great Brew-house … they wetted or used a considerable Quantity of Malt in one Week.
1844. J. T. Hewlett, Parsons & W., xxv. The farmer would get a good price for his barley, the poor man would be able to ‘wet’ and convert into malt enough for his family.
b. To infuse (tea) by pouring boiling water on the leaves. dial.
1905. H. G. Wells, Kipps, III. ii. § 3. Ann … stooped with the kettle-holder to wet the tea.
1916. Blackw. Mag., April, 499/1. ‘Aye, aye, sir,’ replies the duty servant. ‘Tea just being wetted.’ (We never ‘make’ tea, we always ‘wet’ it!)
11. To wet down, to damp (sails, paper, embers) with water.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, iv. We … continued wetting down the sails by buckets of water whipped up to the mast-head.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., Wetting down, the process of damping paper for printing purposes.
1891. Daily News, 26 Sept., 2/5. Holland said that when he came on his watch there was no supply of coal in the bunkers, and that Jensen would not wet down his ashes.
12. Dyeing. To wet out, to soak in water.
1882. Crookes, Dyeing, 106. The yarns or pieces are first wetted out uniformly with water.
1900. Jrnl. Soc. Dyers, XVI. 8. Before dyeing, the bodies [of hats] are well wetted-out in boiling water.
13. Glass-making. To wet off, up. (See quots. and cf. WETTER 1 b, WETTING vbl. sb. 3 d.)
1849. Pellatt, Curios. Glass Making, 85. The pontil secures the whole preparatory to its being whetted [sic] from off the bowl … by the touch of the cold pucellas.
1908. Rosenhain, Glass Manuf., 57. The virgin clay and chamotte having been intimately mixed, the whole mass is ‘wet up’ by the addition of a proper proportion of water and prolonged and vigorous kneading. Ibid., 99. The blower … detaches the bottle from the pipe … by locally chilling the glass—a process known by the descriptive term of ‘wetting off.’
II. intr.
14. To become wet. Also to wet through.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., ix. 36. The water that it [sc. a stone] wetes yn, Y-wis hit wortheth al to wyn.
1757. in Phil. Trans., L. 361. The millers do not deny … that some whiting is carried to all the great mills. The excuse alleged for it is, that it makes the flour wet, and consequently bake, the better.
1902. S. E. White, Blazed Trail, xviii. I thought any leather would wet through in the snow!
15. To rain, drizzle. dial.
1740. Richardson, Pamela, II. 88. Dont you think that yonder Cloud may give us a small Shower? and it did a little begin to wet.
1825. Jamieson, To weit, weet, to rain.
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss., Wit, to rain gently.
1886. Chesh. Gloss., Weet or wet, to rain slightly.
16. Naut. Of a vessel: To ship water.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., vi. 214. A reef should be taken in directly the boat begins to wet.
