| 释义 |
▪ I. wet, n.1|wɛt|
Forms: α. 1 wǽt, 3 wet (dat. wete), Orm. wæt (dat. wæte), 3–6 wete, (5 whete), 4–6 weete, 4–5, 6– Sc. weet, 6 weat(e, 5–6 north. and Sc. weytt, 5–7 Sc. weit. β. 4 north. wat(e. γ. 6– wet, 6 wette, 7 wett. δ. 9 Sc. wat.
[OE. wǽt neut. (substantival use of wǽt adj., = WFris. wiet), giving normally ME. wēt, wete, weete and later weat(e. The other ME. and mod. forms are due to the influence of the adj. OE. had also wǽta wk. masc., represented in ME. by wete; in later use the two become undistinguishable, and some of the examples given here (in sense 1) may really be survivals of wǽta.]
1. Moisture; liquid or moist substance.
In occasional use applied to water, blood, sweat, sap, etc.
αc888ælfred Boeth. xxxiii. §5 Swa þæt heora nan oðres mearce ne ofereode, & se cile ᵹeþrowode wið ða hæto, & þæt wæt wið þam dryᵹum. c1220Bestiary 73 Hise feðres fallen for ðe hete, And he dun mide to ðe wete Falleð in ðat welle grund. a1240Ureisun in O.E. Hom. I. 187 Hwa is þenne unwaschen þe haueþ þis halwende wet inwið his heorte. c1290St. Michael 668 in S. Eng. Leg. 318 Man hath of eorþe al is bodi, and of watere he hauez wete. c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 634, I se wel how ye swete, Haue heer a clooth, and wipe awey the wete. c1400Beryn 1022 [He] smote þe Damesell vndir þe ere, þe weet gon vpward spyn. 1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. 3375 Whan he [Phoebus]..drieþ vp þe moysture & þe weete Of herbe & floure with his feruent hete. 1483Cath. Angl. 415/1 Weytt, maditas. a1500Hist. K. Boccus & Sydracke (? 1510) M ij b, After a man hath in hym most Of wete of dryeth hete or colde Shall his complexcyon be tolde. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §124 The quyckeset wyll take no rote, excepte it haue greate weate.
γ1597Shakes. Lover's Compl. 40 Like vsery applying wet to wet. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Providence xxix, When th' earth was dry, thou mad'st a sea of wet. 1709J. Ward Yng. Math. Guide (1734) 437 Divide the Sum of all those Dips or Wet Inches by the Number of Places you dipp'd in, and the Quotient will be the Mean Wet of all those Dips. 1784Twamley Dairying 32 If you cut the Cheese when young, you will find, that there is a Moisture, or Wet, in every Place where the Eye is,..which Wet or Moisture is called Tears. 1848Dickens Dombey liv, The foam was on his lips; the wet stood on his forehead. 1894K. Grahame Pagan P. 129 The drippings made worms of wet in the thick dust of the road. 1897M. Pemberton Queen of Jesters iii. 105 The floor of the staircase was covered with wet and slime.
2. a. Rainy or damp weather.
αc1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 123 Man..þoleð..hwile druie and hwile wete, hwile chele, wile hete. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. vi. 21, I haue walked ful wyde In weete and in druye. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 23 Þer falles oft sithes grete derth of corne..by cause of ouer mykill wete. c1460Towneley Myst. xii. 4 Now in hurt, now in heyll, now in weytt, now in blast. c1480Henryson Garm. Gude Ladeis 24 Hir mantill of humilitie, To tholl bayth wind & weit. 1650J. Nicoll Diary (Bann. Club) 27 That nicht being..full of wind and weit. Ibid. 32 Tempestis of weit and wind. 1790Burns Young Jockie iii, Thro' wind and weet, thro' frost and snaw.
βa1300Cursor M. 6365 Ne for na drught, ne for na wat, Changed neuer þai þare state. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 7611 In wate and drye, in hate and cald.
γ1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 92 By sowing in wet, is little to get. 1577Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 28 There is nothyng more hurtfull to Winter Corne,..then the wette of Winter. 1601Shakes. All's Well i. iii. 157 This distempered messenger of wet, The manie colour'd Iris. a1715Burnet Own Time ii. (1724) I. 801 Great numbers came to see him. But, after they had stood long in the wet, he disappointed them. 1801Wordsw. Sparrow's Nest 8 The Sparrow's dwelling, which..in wet or dry My sister Emmeline and I Together visited. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xviii, Make haste in out of the wet, Tom. 1860Froude Hist. Eng. xxxiii. VI. 419 The sermon intended to be preached at the stake was adjourned, in consequence of the wet, to St. Mary's. 1905Sat. Rev. 15 July 82/1 It is the alternation of wet and fine which brings every crop in its season.
b. Atmospheric moisture precipitated as rain, mist, or dew.
αc1290St. Michael 604 in S. Eng. Leg. 317 Ȝwane þe sonne hath þudere idrawe þene mist for hete, It ne may no feor for þe colde, ake bicometh al to wete, And gaderez þare to one watur-cloude. 1533Bellenden Livy i. vii. (S.T.S.) I. 41 Ane horribill tempest..made this nobil prince..Invisibill with thik schoure of wete and myst. 1794Burns My Nannie's Awa' 6 And violets bathe in the weet o' the morn.
γ1613T. Campion Relat. Royal Entert. A 4 b, Because some wet had fallen that day in the forenoone..all her foot⁓way was spred with broad cloth. 1617Moryson Itin. ii. 68 The Pace of the Moyrye, by reason of much wet lately fallen,..was hard to passe. 1671Milton P.R. iv. 433 And now the Sun..Had..dry'd the wet From drooping plant, or dropping tree. 1830Herschel Study Nat. Phil. ii. vi. (1851) 159 When no rain or visible wet is falling. 1883Black Shandon Bells xxiv, The silent thin wet that seemed to hang in the atmosphere like a vapour. 1901A. M. Fairbairn in Selbie Life (1913) 385 Nothing but wet and water fills the whole scene.
c. Rain, water, or damp regarded as deleterious or detrimental. Also, standing water which collects in pools, or which makes the ground muddy.
αc1400Destr. Troy 2006 Þre dayes þroly þai..duret vnder hacche, For wete of þe waghes þat wastis ouer hed. Ibid. 9653 [They] Turnit to þere tenttes..Thurgh the rug, & the rayn, þat raiked aboue, All wery for wete, & for wan strokes. c1480Henryson Swallow & Birds 212 The woddis grene wer wallowit with the weit. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §54 Pelte-rotte..commeth of greatte wete, specyally in woode countreyes. 1545Acc. Ld. High. Treas. Scot. VIII. 341, xxiiij pyonaris..quhilkis drew the cannonis and artalȝe..withtin the munitioun hous to saife the stokis thairof from weit. 1595in J. Bulloch Pynours (1887) 68 Salt and vther girnell guid subject to the perrell of weytt and rayn. a1670Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Bann. Club) I. 207 Monro caused bigg up betuixt the croces ane court de guard, for saiffeing his souldiers frae weitt and cauld on the night.
γ1684J. S. Profit & Pleasure united 74 The Infirmitie of this Creature [the Ass] is mostly in the Feet, occasioned by standing or travelling in the wett. 1710D. Hilman Tusser Rediv. Feb. (1744) 16 The reason why unharrowed Beans set in Clay are apt to dye, is because the Wet fills the Holes and rots them. 1730Swift Panegyr. Dean 109 Familiar grown to dirt and wet, Though daggled round, I scorn to fret. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. lix, The wet had penetrated my dress. 1858J. McD. Stuart Jrnls. Explor. Australia (1864) 18 All our rations..being perfectly saturated with wet. 1862H. Marryat Year in Sweden I. 74 On high, safe out of wet's way. 186.Whitman Amer. Feuillage Poems (1868) 95 Parties of snowy herons wading in the wet to seek worms. 1883Hardy Wessex Tales (1888) I. 5 The gable-end of the cottage was stained with wet.
Comb.1902Daily Chron. 30 June 3/7 Wet-proof wire coverings.
d. (With pl.) A burst, storm, downpour, shower, or spell of rain.
αc1440Alphabet of Tales 217 On þe day at he was berid on, þer fell suche a wete and a rayn, þat ij dayes after þai mott nott berie hym. 1513Douglas æneis v. xii. 53 A huge weit gan doun pour and tumbill. 1545Taverner Erasm. Prov. 53 A mysselyng rayn gendreth a great weat. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 312 Terribill windes with raine and weittis quhilk continewit xlviij houris togidder. 1606in Sel. Rec. Kirk Sess. Aberd. (Spalding Club) 53 The gryt invndatioun of weittis liklie to rott the cornis. 1650J. Nicoll Diary (Bann. Club) 8 Much unseasonable weather, the lyke quhairof wes not usuall for weittis, cold, frostes and tempestis. 1661J. Childrey Brit. Baconica 65 Earthquakes always succeed great wets.
γ1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xxi. (1632) 1011 The weather extreame in wets and frosts. 1726J. Laurence Agric. 281 Gardens which..are apt to be overflowed or soak'd with Water in the Winter, (for Summer Wets never hurt them). 1733W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 47 The Wets that generally fall then. 1851Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. xii. ii. 391 The weather often turning into sudden wets.
3. Liquor, drink. In mod. use only slang; esp. in heavy-wet, malt liquor.
αc960æthelwold Bened. Rule xliii. 69 Ac he ana ᵹereorde..and be dæle æt and wæt ᵹewanod sy. c1000ælfric Hom. I. 66 He ne mæᵹ ætes oððe wætes brucan. ― Saints' Lives xvi. 270 He..to micel nimð on æte oððe on wæte [c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 103 on ete oðer on wete]. c1200Ormin 7852 Himm birrþ lokenn himm full wel Fra luffsumm æte & wæte.
γ1821Egan Life in London iii. 226 The soldiers and their trulls were seen tossing off the heavy wet and spirits. 1821[? Egan] Real Life Lond. I. xviii. 392 note, Heavy wet—A well-known appellation for beer, porter, or ale. 1839J. Grant Trav. Town I. 167 Pots of foaming heavy wet. 1894Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life II. 197 After a lot of talk and a certain amount of ‘wet’ he and I made three matches.
†4. Phr. without wet, without being wetted. to take wet, to be injured by damp. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 18547 Apon þe see wit-vten wete Gangand als apon a strete. 1513[see take v. 44 b]. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. 378 After they had beene weakened with this daungerous wet that they tooke. 1631E. Pellham Gods Power 24 Wee found that all our Frittars of the Whale were almost spoyled with the wet that they had taken. 1693Locke Educ. §7 He that considers how Mischievous and Mortal a thing, taking Wet in the Feet is to those, who have been bred nicely. 1712[see take v. 44 b].
†5. in wet = in fresco (see fresco n. 2). Obs.
1622Peacham Compl. Gent. (1634) xii. 141 He wrought in distemper (as we call it) or wet with size, sixe histories of patient Iob. Ibid. 149 Making in his Cloyster many Histories in wet, after Masaccio's manner.
6. A ‘wet’ person (see wet a. 15 b); spec. a politician with liberal or middle-of-the-road views on controversial issues (often applied to members of the Conservative Party opposed to the monetarist policies of Margaret Thatcher).
1931F. L. Allen Only Yesterday x. 254 The Government putting wood alcohol and other poisons into industrial alcohol to prevent its diversion, and the wets thereupon charging the Government with murder. 1933D. L. Murray Eng. Family Robinson vii. 159 He's quite right... You are a wet! Who does pay regularly? 1939G. Heyer No Wind of Blame xvi. 299 He's a regular wet, that chap: doesn't hold with blood sports. 1948C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident ix. 111 Don't be a wet. We'll get off all right. 1961C. Willock Death in Covert xi. 201 ‘That wet,’ said fford, reverting to a school⁓boy expression. ‘Wet he may be, but he knows about lighters.’ 1974I. Murdoch Sacred & Profane Love Machine 76 You've made me into a bloody wet. I'm a fighter and you've made me into a weak person. 1976S. Barstow Right True End iii. xii. 180 She likes to throw out these challenges that put me to the test and make feel a weak-kneed wet. 1980B. W. Aldiss Life in West ii. 42 He's a bit of a wet, but quite a sound art-historian.
1980Sunday Tel. 6 Apr. 9 At least Sir Ian Gilmour and other political wets do not have their hair pulled. 1980Times 7 Apr. 9/1 Mr James Prior, Secretary of State for Employment, is described in one Sunday paper as ‘the champion of the Tory wets’. Ibid., Who..are to be counted among the wets? The answer seems to be anybody who crosses the Prime Minister in fashioning a particular policy. 1980W. Whitelaw in Observer 23 Nov. 11, I don't really know what a wet is. 1983Age (Melbourne) 5 Oct. 13 [Of U.K. politics] In contrast to the expansionist, protectionist and welfare-oriented Wets, the Dries stand for small government, economic rationality and individual responsibility.
7. U.S. slang. = wetback s.v. wet a. 21.
1973Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 16 Feb. 13/1 In the past, unscrupulous employers would employ a ‘wet’ for a month, then denounce him to the Immigration authorities before pay day. 1979Time 8 Oct. 33/1 A group of ‘wets’, or ‘undocumented workers’, as official jargon calls them. Most of the Mexican aliens are poor, frightened and docile people whose only crime is seeking to find work and a better life in the U.S. 1979G. Swarthout Skeletons 104 Why doesn't this [system] detect every wet who puts a toe across the line?
Add:8. slang (Motor Racing, etc.). A wet-weather tyre.
1977Times 15 July (Motor-Racing Suppl.) p. ii (caption) Ronnie Peterson waits in his six-wheel Tyrrell as the tyres are changed from ‘wets’ to ‘dry slicks’. 1986Grand Prix Internat. July 46/3 There was little chance that the track was going to dry out... Everybody fitted wets apart from Boutsen who gambled with slicks. 1988Motor Cycle News 7 Sept. 10/3 Pirovano, running full wets like the rest of the grid, came from nowhere in the closing stages..for his one second win.
▪ II. wet, n.2 colloq.
[f. wet v.]
1. A drink or draught of some alcoholic beverage; a glass of liquor.
In the 18th c. app. sometimes confused with whet n. 2 b.
1719D'Urfey Pills V. 125 At Noon he gets up for a wet and to Dine. c1752Narr. Journ. Ir. Gentl. Eng. (1869) 47 Valerius protested he could not walk back to dinner until he had taken a wet, as he called it: and..he went into a tavern..and produced some cold roast beef, Cheshire cheese, and a cool tankard. 1789Trifler No. xxxviii. 487 John Whip enquired of his knot of brethren on the roof whether they would take a wet. 1880Baring-Gould Mehalah xxiv, Do you, Elijah, hand a wet round. 1881A. C. Grant Bush-Life Queensland iii. (1882) 22 No bargain could be completed without a ‘wet’ over it. 1890Beeton's Christmas Ann. 17 You look dry; let's have a wet. 1910Louise Gerard Golden Centipede x, Chrys won't dare to hide the wets when there are visitors in the house.
2. slang. Urination, the act of urinating; urine. rare.
1925,1975[see wet v. 17].
▪ III. wet, a.|wɛt|
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.
c888ælfred Boeth. xxxiii. §5 Sie eorðe is dryᵹe & ceald, & þæt wæter wæt & ceald. c1000ælfric Saints' Lives xxx. 441 Forᵹif, drihten, þæt þyses fyres hæto sy ᵹecyrred on wætne deaw. c1220Bestiary 752 Al ðat eure smelleð swete, be it drie, be it wete. a1300Cursor M. 23679 Waters renand alwais wat. 13..K. Horn 970 (Harl. MS.) Horn..spec wiþ wete tearen. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace 9952 Þre dayes hit was þey nought ete, Ne nought drank þat was wete. c1374Chaucer Compl. Mars 89 This cely Venus nygh dreynt in teres wete. ― Troylus v. 1109 Phebus with his hete Gan..to warmen of þe Est See þe wawes wete. 1513Douglas æneis vii. v. 82 Careit throu feill large haw stremys wait. 1605Shakes. Lear iv. vii. 71 Be your teares wet? Yes faith: I pray weepe not. 1862Mrs. Browning Last Poems, My Heart & I iii, Our voice which thrilled you so, will let You sleep; our tears are only wet. 1894Pall Mall Gaz. 20 Dec. 3/1 At Suez, Padishah gave way to tears—actual wet tears—when Potter became the owner of the birds. 1896Kipling Seven Seas 85 But, oh, the little cargo-boats, that sail the wet seas roun'.
Comb.1597Middleton 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. a. Of weather, a period of time, a locality: Rainy.
c893ælfred Oros. iii. iii. 102 Of untidlican ᵹewideran, þæt is, of wætum sumerum, & of dryᵹum wintrum. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 96 As wete somers nurishen siche tares. c1461Bale's Chron. in Six Town Chron. (1911) 145 Upon Thursday which was a wete day. 1577Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 21 b, You must not plowe in wette weather. 1634Milton Comus 930 Wet Octobers torrent flood. 1685in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 382 The wettest and windiest day that I have seene. a1700Evelyn Diary 6 Oct. 1679, A very wet and sickly season. 1785Burns Halloween xv, The simmer had been cauld an' wat. 1849C. Brontë Shirley xii, They had passed a long wet day together without ennui. 1861J. 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]. 1877Huxley 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 vapour.
c1400Destr. Troy 12474 Wintur vp wacknet with his wete aire. 1883Stevenson Silverado Sq. (1886) 42 In the tunnel a cold, wet draught..blew.
c. Of a star: Bringing rain.
c1425MS. 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.)
a1661Fuller Worthies, Gen. xi. (1662) 38 Ergo, saith the Miser, part with nothing, but keep all against a Wet day. 1691Norris Pract. Disc. 34 The children of this World..will [not] let slip any other advantage..of providing against a Wet Day. 1865J. Hatton Bitter Sweets v, You'd most likely come down topsy-turvy, and have a werry wet welcome at the end of it. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton xxix, Scotland was evidently bent on giving us a wet welcome.
e. Comb. (adj. + n. used as an attrib. phr.).
1883R. Broughton Belinda iii. vi, It was an innocent enough wet-day amusement! 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 96 The torrential downpour of the wet-season rain. 1901C. Holland Mousmé 323 Their huge wet-weather hats.
f. absol. = wet season. Freq. with def. article and also with capital initial. colloq. (chiefly Austral.).
1897M. 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. 1908Mrs. A. Gunn We of Never-Never i. 5 He..wired an inane suggestion about waiting till after the Wet. 1934Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Aug. 20/4 In the ‘wet’ it became a miniature lake at which one cocky's horses were wont to drink. 1941I. L. Idriess Great Boomerang vii. 51 An early and heavy wet would set in that would spill water for a thousand miles south-west. 1968S. L. Elliott Rusty Bugles in E. Hanger Three Austral. Plays i. ii. 41 That's what everyone tells me. Wait until you've done a Wet. 1981P. Carey Bliss iii. 135 Each year when the wet ended she found herself looking forward to it again.
3. a. Of land or soil: Holding water, saturated with water, heavy.
a900Leiden Riddle 1 Mec se ueta uong, uundrum freoriᵹ, ob his innaðae aerest caendæ. c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 90 Ðeos wyrt..bið cenned ᵹehwær on smeþum landum & on wætum. a1023Wulfstan Hom. (1883) 249 Loca humentia, þæt beoð wæte stowa. a1300Cursor M. 1318 Gyson, fison, tigre, eufrate, Þis four mas al þis erth wate. 1375Barbour 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. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 41 Þe wylde worme vnder weet erthe. c1425Wyntoun 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]. c1470Golagros & Gaw. 35 Sa wundir wait wes the way. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §14 [Oats] wylle grow on weter grounde than any corne els. 1557Tusser 100 Points Husb. §38 When pasture is gone, and the fildes mier and weate. 1596Dalrymple tr. 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. 1625G. Markham Inrichment Weald Kent 9 A cold, stiffe and wet clay. 1784Young's Annals Agric. II. 43 In many of their fields they are troubled with springs; they call the wet spots squalls. 1842J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 383 This is not, however, a turnip soil, being much too wet and heavy. 1847[see soaking ppl. a. 6]. 1911G. Macdonald Roman Wall Scot. 132 The field at the bottom is still wet and marshy.
absol.1824Scott St. Ronan's viii, Miss Clara cares little for rough roads..Zounds! she can spank it over wet and dry.
fig.1824W. 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.1778W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric., Digest 70 A wet-land Farm.
b. Of a crop: Grown in a moist or watery soil.
1885W. 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.
c900Bæda's Hist. v. xii. (1890) 436 Næfre he ða his wætan hræl & þa cealdan forlætan wolde, oðþæt hiᵹ eft of his seolfes lichoman ᵹewermedon & adruᵹedon. c1290St. Bridget 39 in S. Eng. Leg. 193 So gret rein ore louerd to eorþe sende Þat hire cloþes al wete weren. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 775 Aurora with the stremys of hir hete Hadde dreyed vp the dew of erbis wete. c1440Promp. Parv. 523/1 Weet, wythe reyne, complutus. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 281 As for hercules all that he had vpon hym was weet and nothing drye. 1596Ralegh Discov. Guiana 9 The weete clothes of so many men thrust together. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. i. 95 O you shall see him laugh, till his Face be like a wet Cloake, ill laid vp. 1725Mandeville Fab. Bees (ed. 4) I. 271 In comes the nimble Messenger smoaking hot, with his Cloaths as wet as Dung with the Rain. 1800Wordsw. Two Thieves 9 The traveller would hang his wet clothes on a chair. 1837Dickens Pickw. li, The sky was dark and gloomy,..the streets wet and sloppy. 1853― Bleak Ho. xviii, She..slipped off her shoes..and walked deliberately..through the wettest of the wet grass. 1866Swinburne 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. 1884Pae 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.
c1205Lay. 28080 Þa wes ich al wet, & weri of sorȝen and seoc. 1375Barbour Bruce iv. 380 Thouch thai wate war and wery. c1386Chaucer Reeve's T. 187 Wery and weet as beest is in the reyn Comth sely Iohn. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 279 Wherof hercules and exione were all wette of the wasshing and springyng of the wawes. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxxiv. 205 b, Suche as were wete & colde made fyers to warme them. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. i. 27 Canst thou (O partiall Sleepe) giue thy Repose To the wet Sea-Boy, in an houre so rude. 1600Fairfax Tasso i. xiv, He..shooke his wings with roarie May-dewes wet. a1700Evelyn Diary 2 Oct. 1641, We were forced to walke on foote very wett and discompos'd. 1728Ramsay Anacr. Love 8 A poor young wean a' wat! 1789W. Blake Songs of Innoc., Little Boy Lost 6 The child was wet with dew. 1825Cobbett 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. 1849James Woodman xlvi, Set me a seat by the fire,..and then call in the slave. He is wetter than we are. 1861E. D. Cook P. Foster's Dau. i, Besides, I hate to get wet. 1918Chamb. 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 wet (see wringing ppl. a.), dripping wet, † dropping wet. wet through, wet to the skin: having one's clothes completely saturated (cf. wet v. 4 c).
a1500Flower & Leaf 406 Wherewith they made hem stately fyres grete To dry their clothes that were wringing wete. 1526A C. Merry Tales No. 82 (facs.) 22 b, There fel a good showre of rayn that the skoler was well wasshyd and wete to y⊇ skyn. 1591,1770[see dropping ppl. a. 1 c]. 1611,1764[see skin n. 6 e]. 1798Southey Lett. (1856) I. 61 But all this does not make it the more agreeable to get wet through. 1835W. Irving Tour Prairies xiii, Some dripping wet, having fallen into the river. 1840Longfellow in Life (1891) I. 359 The last eighteen miles it rained like fury, and I reached Hartford wet through. 1859F. 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. 1816Scott Antiq. xxvi, And then the man casts aff the wat and puts on the dry, and sits down..ahint the ingle.
e. Applied to a removable liner for the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine that has cooling water flowing between it and the cylinder wall.
1935Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXIX. 470 The four cylinders 63 m/m. bore by 120 m/m. stroke were steel jacketed, wet liners, having four valves per cylinder. 1959Motor 14 Oct. 304/2 Cylinder blocks with individual wet liners of cast iron. 1975M. J. Nunney Automotive Engine iii. 94 Positive sealing arrangements must be made with wet cylinder liners to prevent leakage of coolant into the crankcase. 1981H. E. Ellinger Automotive Engines x. 157/2 Coolant flows around the cylinder sleeve, so this type of sleeve is called a wet sleeve.
5. a. Suffused with tears; moist with weeping or with being wept upon. Const. with, † of.
c1205Lay. 30268 Wete weoren his wongen. a1225Ancr. R. 278 Bihold mid wet eien þine scheomeful sunnen. c1250Gen. & Ex. 2356 Euerilc he kiste, on ilc he gret, Ilc here was of is teres wet. a1300Cursor M. 25999 Þat þou mai sai al wit þe prophet, Mi weping mas mi bed al wet. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 422 The pure fettres on his shynes grete Weren of his bittre salte teeres wete. 1390Gower Conf. I. 98 Hire yhen smale and depe set, Hire chekes ben with teres wet. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 226 His eyen wexed weete agen for pite. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxii. 133 Repentence ay with cheikis wait, No pane nor pennence did eschew. 1611Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 35 These her Women..who with wet cheekes Were present when she finish'd. 1667Dryden & Dk. Newcastle Sir M. Mar-all iv. i, Lord! her innocency makes me laugh my Cheeks all wet. 1785Cowper Task iv. 17 Epistles wet With tears, that trickled down the writer's cheeks. 1871Bryant Odyss. v. 105 Gazing with wet eyes upon the barren deep. 1885–94Bridges 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.)
a1300Cursor 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. c1320Cast. Love 1433 Þe woundes grene and weet, Wȝuche þat weoren on honden and feet. c1400Destr. Troy 1329 Wyde woundes & wete. c1440York Myst. xxxviii. 283 Þat swete, Þat for my loue tholed woundes wete. 1804W. 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.
c1400Laud Troy Bk. 8436 Of his forhede barst the swote, That al his face ther-of was wote. 1803Med. Jrnl. X. 84 After violent perspiration, a linen or cotton shirt becomes wet.
d. to get wet: to lose one's temper, become angry. Austral. slang (? Obs.).
1898Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Dec. Red Page, To get narked is to lose your temper; also expressed by getting dead wet. 1916C. J. Dennis Songs of Sentimental Bloke 42 Romeo gits wet as 'ell. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. 121 A man in a temper is said..to get wet.
e. to get (someone) wet: to gain the upper hand over; to have at one's mercy. N.Z. slang.
c1926‘Mixer’ Transport Workers' Song Bk. 29 He skites about in-fighting. Stick to him, Mick; you've got him wet. 1941Coast to Coast 1941 124 ‘Got you wet, haven't they?’ He flung the remark over his shoulder as he went over to his bed. 1945F. Sargeson When Wind Blows vi. 40 Now we've got 'em wet.
f. Of those activities of intellignece organizations, esp. of the K.G.B., that involve assassination. slang.
1972A. Price Col. Butler's Wolf vi. 58 The Russian slang for Spetsburo Thirteen was Mokryye Dela—‘The department of wet affairs’..and to get wet was the feared, inevitable fate of traitors pursued by the special bureau. 1975J. Grady Shadow of Condor ii. 47 ‘The courier made other mistakes... It was a wet affair.’.. Ryzhov like to use the old KGB liquid euphemism for executions. 1980J. Gardner Garden of Weapons ii. vii. 191 He had seen men killed: and killed them himself: he had directed ‘wet operations’, as they used to be called.
6. a. 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.
1390Gower Conf. II. 264 Tho lay ther certein wode cleft, Of which the pieces nou and eft Sche made hem in the pettes wete, And put hem in the fyri hete. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. lxiv. (1495) 280 The water slydeth of as it were of a wete hyde. c1430Two Cookery-bks. 48 Wete þin dyssche in þe hony, & with þe wete dyssche ley þe malmenye & þe cofyns. 1432–50tr. Higden I. 267 Then the white neckes schalle be humectate or made weiete with golde. c1450Mirk's Festial 191 Byd hym goo ynto þe chirch, and se how al þe pament ȝet ys wete of þe holy watyr. 1644Milton 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? 1721E. Ward Wand. Spy i. (1729) 3 Then a wet Finger does its Duty, And robs the Bar-board of its Beauty. 1754Connoisseur No. 29 ⁋1, I snatch up the favourite sheets wet from the press and devour every syllable. 1798Coleridge Recantation xx, With the morning's wet newspaper. 1804Med. Jrnl. XII. 494 It should be afterwards cleaned with a wet sponge. 1835New Monthly Mag. XLIV. 337 Just published, and wet from the press, ‘The Stranger's Guide through Little Pedlington’. 1838Dickens 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. 1839De 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. 1850F. K. Hunt Fourth Estate II. 220 Just as the wet Newspaper, fresh from the News⁓boy, is being opened at the eight o'clock breakfast table. 1859FitzGerald Omar xxxvi, I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay.
†b. (a) 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.
1542Udall 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. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 78 With a wet fynger ye can fet, As muche as maie easyly all this matter ease. 1589Rare Tri. Love & Fortune iii. C 4, And I can finde One with a wet finger that is starke blinde. 1593G. Harvey Pierces Super. 2, I hate brawles with my hart: and can turne-ouer A volume of wronges with a wett finger. 1600Wisd. Dr. Dodypoll iii. E 3 b, Flo. Canst thou bring me thither? Pea[sant]. With a wet finger sir. 1644Featly Roma Ruens 5, I could with a wet finger produce divers decrees of Popes..flat repugnant one to the other. 1690C. 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. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1768) V. 152 If thou likest her, I get her for thee with a wet finger, as the saying is! 1754Foote Knts. i. 15 If Dame Winifred was here, she'd make 'em all out with a wet Finger; but they are above me. 1818Scott 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)1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 39 The broker will giue mony for them, with a wet finger. 1604Dekker 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. 1624Gataker 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 n.1 3.
1561tr. 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. 1578H. Wotton Courtlie Controv. 61 For so many pleasures vanished, as an Ele through a wette hande. 1579,a1651[see sack n.1 3]. 1616T. Draxe Bibl. Scholast. 218 He holdeth a wet eele by the taile. 1679Lett. 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.
1876Coursing Calendar 326 Westeria, coming with a wet sail, rushed by and ultimately killed. 1901Daily Express 18 Mar. 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.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1480 And as it queynte, it made a whistlynge, As doon thise wete brondes in hir brennynge. 1468–9Stonor Papers (Camden) I. 103 Let not hit be wete tymbyr in hond. 1900Hueffer in Academy 18 Aug. 127/2 The wet-wood smoke drives us winking blind. 1906H. 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]. 1552–3in Feuillerat Revels Edw. VI (1914) 139 For drying of stayning paynting and other wett pasted and mowlded woorkes. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. v. iii. 81 The ruddinesse vpon her Lippe is wet: You'le marre it, if you kisse it. 1850Miss Mulock Olive xx. (1890) 157 Ha! don't come near my picture. The paint's wet. Get away. 1883M. 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 off the coaming of a hatch, and said sweetly it didn't matter in the least.
9. Fortif. Of a ditch: Containing water.
For the sense cf. wet dock.
1590Sir R. Williams Discourse War 50 No drie ditch can bee compared for strength vnto a wet ditch. 1813Ann. Reg., App. to Chron. 130 The whole of the fortification is surrounded by a wet ditch. 1869H. F. 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.c1580in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1914) July 523 Wett newland fishe, ye c, 1 li. Drye fishe, the hondert, 0 li. 10 sh. 1580R. Hitchcock Polit. Plat a iv, Twentie thousande of the beste and middle sort of wette fishe (at the leaste) called blanckfishe, and tenne thousande drie fishe. 1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4421/7 The Cargo of the Prize-Ship Margaret of Nantz, consisting of about 11000 Wett, or Mud-fish. 1883Fisheries 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.1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 62/2 All fresh fish is ‘wet’; all cured or salted fish, ‘dry’. 1899Daily 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.
1612Sc. Bk. Rates in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 312 Wett confectionis—Preserved barbareis..Marmalad [etc.]. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 259 Sweat-meats Dry and Wet, upon small Porcelaine Plates. 1836C. P. 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. 1867Latham Black & White 87 The ‘wet specimens,’ those bottled in spirits. 1891Century Dict., Wet preparation, a specimen of natural history immersed in alcohol.
12. Of measure: Used for liquid articles. ? Obs.
1597Skene De Verb. Signif. s.v. Gangiatores, Al measures, & weichts, baith dry & weete. 1622Malynes Lex Mercat. 39 The Romanes in times past, called the wet Measure by Ounces, as wee doe the weight. 1638L. Roberts Merch. Map Comm. ii. 238 Wet Measures are also derived from this pound Troy.
13. Med.
a. Designating certain diseases which are characterized by moist secretions.
1565Blundevil 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. 1898P. Manson Trop. Diseases xiv. 232 The paralytic-atrophic cases are designated ‘dry beriberi’ or beriberi atrophica; the dropsical cases, ‘wet beriberi’ or beriberi hydrops. 1899Syd. Soc. Lex., Wet brain, Wet scald, Wet tetter.
b. wet cup, wet cupping: see cupping vbl. n. 1.
1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 175 Wet-cupping the loins to the extent of several ounces may be of service. 1913Dorland Med. Dict., Wet-cup, a cupping-glass to be used after scarification.
c. Designating various modes of hydropathic treatment, as in wet bandage, wet compress, wet pack, wet packing, wet sheet.
1843Sir C. Scudamore Med. Visit Gräfenberg 16 Wet Bandages. 1848,1870[see compress n. 1]. 1859,1899[see pack n.1 11]. 1874[see packing vbl. n.1 1 c]. 1874Bucknill & Tuke Psychol. Med. (ed. 3) 754 The Wet Sheet or Wet Pack..acts as an energetic sudorific.
fig.c1864J. 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.)
1704Prior Celia to Damon 66 When my lost Lover the tall Ship ascends, With Musick gay, and wet with Iovial Friends. 1834Coleridge Table T. 20 Jan., Some men are like musical glasses;—to produce their finest tones, you must keep them wet.
b. Addicted to drink.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Wet-Quaker, a Drunkard of that Sect. c1713in Aitken Steele (1889) I. 395 It's a very wet town, and the voters are wet too. 1825Brockett 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.
1592Nashe 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 n.1 7]. 1824W. 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. 1848Thackeray 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. 1905H. A. Vachell The Hill iii. 49 Some of us had a wet night of it, last night.
15. colloq.
a. Of a Quaker: Not very strict in the observances of his sect. (See also 14 b.)
1700T. 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. a1708T. Ward Eng. Ref. ii. (1710) 44 Quakers, and Wet-Quakers, or Merry-ones. 1785G. 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. 1838Bentley'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. 1839Marryat Diary Amer. Ser. i. I. 255 Mr. Buffum..was dressed as what is termed a wet Quaker. 1866Carlyle in Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 53 An enthusiastic young ‘Wet-Quaker’.
transf.1831W. 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. 1855Newman Callista vi. (1856) 48 Agellius is but a wet Christian;..not obstinate, like his brother there. 1876March. 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.
b. Inept, ineffectual, effete; also as quasi-adv. and in comb. wet fish, a wet individual, a ‘drip’. Also spec. in Politics (see quots. 1981 and 1983). Cf. wet n.1 6.
1916‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin ii. 27 I'll give yer a clip 'longside the ear'ole if you ain't careful. Don't act so wet. 1924P. Marks Plastic Age 94 They attended a performance of Shaw's ‘Candida’ given by the Dramatic Society and voted it a ‘wet’ show. Ibid. 192 A man is wet if he isn't a ‘regular guy’; he is wet if he isn't ‘smooth’; he is wet if he has intellectual interests..; and he is wet..if he is utterly stupid. 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart ii. iv. 239 Cecil is so wet! Coming early like that, then sticking round like that. 1944A. Christie Towards Zero 86 Audrey marry that wet fish? She's a lot too good for that. 1963Wet fish [see moose1 c]. 1969K. Amis Green Man iv. 180 The Jesus of the Gospels can be a bit of a wet liberal at times. 1973P. O'Donnell Silver Mistress iv. 74 Don't talk wet, Jan. There's nothing you could do. 1980Times Lit. Suppl. 28 Nov. 1355/2 The contrast between the splendid façade and the rather wet interior of the man [sc. Havelock Ellis], who was kind and gentle and distinguished, but also distressingly absent, indifferent and faint.
1981Observer 26 July 12/3 The term ‘Wet’ was originally used by Mrs Thatcher, who meant it in the old sense of ‘soppy’, as in ‘What do you mean the unions won't like it, Jim? Don't be so wet.’ It meant feeble, liable to take the easy option, lacking intellectual and political hardness. Like so many insults, it was gleefully adopted by its victims, and so came by its present meaning of liberal, leftish, anti-ideological. 1982Listener 23/30 Dec. 6/3 In considering the promotion of wet (or wettish) Ministers, she will tell herself that Pope was right. 1983Age (Melbourne) 5 Oct. 13 Britain's Tory Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, began this vogue terminology by contemptously dismissing dewy-eyed dissenters from her arid Right-wing policies as ‘wet’.
c. all wet: mistaken, completely wrong. orig. and chiefly U.S.
1923N.Y. Times 9 Sept. vii. 2/1 All wet, all wrong. 1931Kansas City Times 29 Aug., Alfalfa Bill Murray may be ‘all wet’ in his state-line bridge and oil production controversies. 1940G. Ade Let. 5 June (1973) 221 Regarding the Rotary Clubs, I..am an honorary member. I think the organization is alright and that Sinclair Lewis was all wet when he tried to poke fun at the small town booster. 1941E. B. White Let. Summer (1976) 216, I haven't had much time to think things over and I am probably all wet on a lot of things in here. 1951A. Baron Rosie Hogarth 282 You're all wet if you think I'm giving up that easy.
d. wet behind the ears: see ear n.1 1 c.
16. a. Consisting of alcoholic liquor.
1779Remembrancer VIII. 277 Saturday last arrived here from Cadiz, a polacre, with a large and general assortment of dry and wet goods. 1837J. 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. 1882Daily News 31 Jan. 2/1 The central office for ‘wet goods’, i.e. wines and spirits. 1884Chamb. 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]. 1899H. 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. 1913R. H. Gretton Mod. Hist. Engl. People I. 90 Whereas at ports the customs arrangement allowed ‘bonding’ on a large scale, there was no such possibility in inland towns, except in some ‘wet’ trades.
c. orig. and chiefly 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. Hence as quasi-adv. in phr. to go wet or vote wet. Cf. dry a. 11 a.
1870, etc. [see dry a. 11 a]. 1888Bryce 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’ (i.e. permit or forbid the sale of intoxicants). 1888North American (Philadelphia) 3 Apr. 1/1 Forty-nine counties have voted ‘dry’, and thirty-three ‘wet’... Thirteen of twenty towns went ‘dry’, and seven ‘wet’. 1908Westm. 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. 1919H. L. Wilson Ma Pettengill 36 Like a cow⁓hand with three month's pay hitting a wet town. 1954K. Amis Lucky Jim 109 The still recent tradition of a ‘wet’ Summer Ball. 1974Times 7 Oct. 4/1 Flintshire, Radnorshire, Breconshire..voted to go wet. Ibid. 4/2 That poll ended the curious situation of one inn which straddled on the wet-dry border... The public bar was dry and empty, but the lounge bar was wet and crowded.
d. absol. or quasi-n. (from prec. sense).
1888Battle Creek (Michigan) Weekly Jrnl. 29 Feb., This is the first great victory for the ‘wets’. 1896[see dry n. 5]. 1906Mission Field Aug. 144 The ‘wets’ would carry such cities as Guthrie, Oklahoma City and Shawnee. 1919Blackw. 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 The wasp..shares man's weakness for beer. In the language of America, he is a ‘wet’. 1968Daily Tel. 8 Nov. 1/4 The ‘wets’ gained three counties..in the Welsh referendum on Sunday drinking.
17. a. Designating various technical processes or operations.
1807Aikin 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. 1854C. 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. 1859Reeve Brittany 6 The wet collodion process. 1878Abney Treat. Photogr. vii. 50 The following are collodions..for the wet process. 1882Imperial Dict., Wet-puddling, in metallurgy, pig-boiling. 1897Allbutt'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’.
b. Designating chemical tests and analysis involving the use of solvents or other liquids; = humid a. c; so wet-chemical adj. Cf. way n.1 14 c.
1800tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 398 Analysis by the wet way. 1858Phil. Mag. XVI. 331 This method is particularly adapted..when the substances of this group occur in so small quantities that they are no longer recognizable in the wet way. 1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 70/2 A convenient wet-way method for small quantities is to boil the recently precipitated chloride..with caustic soda-ley. 1932F. Soddy Interpretation of Atom xv. 253 Almost all the ordinary chemical tests for the common elements, by which they are identified in the ordinary reactions of ‘wet’ analysis, are not tests for the elements, but for their ions. 1967Electronics 6 Mar. 29 (Advt.), You can be sure of a complete refinery service... Including, under one roof..laboratory facilities for wet chemical analysis and electrolytic methods of analysis. 1973Nature 8 June 365/1 Since the Second World War, physical methods of analysis..have increasingly displaced wet chemistry from the industrial routine analytical laboratory. 1977New Scientist 17 Feb. 384/1 Traditional methods of detecting nitrogen oxides as air pollutants monitor the change in colour of an acid permanganate solution as the oxides are absorbed. These wet-chemical methods..require relatively large samples of gases.
18. Naut. Of a vessel: Liable to ship water over the bows or gunwale.
1832Marryat N. Forster x, She was what sailors term rather a wet one, and the sea broke continually over her bows. 1884Clark Russell Jack's Courtship xvii, The Strathmore..had the reputation of being a very fast sailer, though what is termed a wet ship. 1891M. 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. Of natural gas: containing significant amounts of the vapour of higher hydrocarbons.
1926Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 18 July 16/7 Wet gas flow of 3,000,000 feet a day was struck at McLeod No. 2 well in Turner Valley last night. 1948Petroleum Handbk. (Shell Petroleum Co. Ltd.) (ed. 3) ix. 154 Gases produced in contact with oil can be either ‘dry’ or ‘wet’, depending on the nature of the crude oil and the method of separating the gas from the oil. 1982Shell Briefing Service No. 5. 5/2 LPG is essentially a mixture of propane and butane stored at ambient temperature under moderate pressure. It can be derived from the gas associated with crude oil or from ‘wet’ natural gas directly at the well.
20. In combination with pa. pples.:
a. predicative, as wet-crushed, wet-picked, wet-plucked, wet salted, wet situated, wet spun, wet woaded.
1877Raymond Statist. Mines 419 The cost of drying the *wet-crushed ore.
1885Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 225/2 It [esparto] is again ‘*wet-picked’ after boiling.
1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 19 Jan. Suppl. 41/3 At slaughter the birds are all..*wet-plucked by machine and then eviscerated. 1969R. Adlard in R. Blythe Akenfield xiv. 234 The feathers are no use because the chickens [in factory farms] are wet-plucked, so there is only a mess.
1885Harper's Mag. Jan. 274/1 Hides brought to the tannery in this condition are known as ‘*wet salted’.
1765A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 471 When clay land is *wet situated.
1901Scotsman 1 Apr. 11/1 The demand for *wet spun yarns.
1660Fuller 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, wet-eyed, wet-feeted, wet-footed, wet-lipped, wet mouthed.
1812Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 222 *Wet-bottomed land. 1886C. 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. 1891Hardy Tess xl, He knelt down at the bedside wet-eyed.
1864Dickens 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.
1833Hood Public Dinner 174 *Wet-footed, spoilt-beaver'd,..You haste home to supper. 1856C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. vi, She has come home wet-footed and cold.
1870Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 232 The *wet-lipped west wind.
1951Dylan Thomas Sel. Lett. (1966) 352 [Fresh recruits] see before them in the hot moonlight wetmouthed Persian girls from the bazaar.
21. Special collocations (see also 13 above): wetback orig. and chiefly U.S., an illegal immigrant who crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico to the U.S.; also attrib. and transf.; wet bar N. Amer., a bar or counter in a private house from which alcoholic drinks are served; wet bargain (see bargain n.1 7); wet bob [Bob n.7], a boy at Eton who devotes himself to boating; also gen.; so wet bob v. intr.; wet-bobbing vbl. n.; 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 n.1 1); wet diggings orig. U.S., gold diggings in or near a river or stream; cf. dry diggings s.v. dry a. C. 3; wet dream, an erotic dream which causes a man or boy to have an involuntary sexual orgasm during sleep; also fig.; wet-eared = wet behind the ears s.v. ear n.1 1 c; wet end, that end of a paper-making or drying machine into which the wet material is passed; wet fly Angling (see quot. 1875); also attrib.; wet frost, a frost accompanied by damp air; † wet glover (see glover1 b); † wet larder, one where moist or liquid provisions were stored; wet lease (see quot. 1979); so wet lease v. trans., wet-leased ppl. a.; wet leg slang, a self-pitying person; wet look [look n. 2 f], an appearance of a wet or shiny surface; usu. attrib., esp. of fabrics (see quot. 1968); wet meter, a gas-meter in which the gas passes through a body of water; wet pack, a compact waterproof bag which folds or rolls up and is designed for carrying toilet articles; wet plate Photogr., a sensitized collodion plate exposed in the camera while the collodion is moist; also attrib.; wet-point a., of villages, settlements, etc.: having an available water supply; wet process, a manufacturing process involving the use of water or other liquid; freq. attrib.; wet rent, a levy paid to a brewery by a publican in a tied public house in proportion to the amount of beer sold (see also quot. 1907); wet rot, decay in timber caused by excessive moisture; † wet-salter (in contrast to dry-salter); wet shave, a shave (shave n.2 2) carried out with the aid of a razor, soap, and water as opp. to a (usu. electric) razor alone; so wet shaver, someone who shaves by this method; wet shaving vbl. n.; wet smack slang (chiefly U.S.), a spoil-sport; wet spinning, (a) spinning of natural fibres when they are wet from passage through a water bath; (b) spinning of man-made fibres in which the spinneret extrudes the streams of liquid into a coagulating bath; so wet-spin v. trans., wet-spun ppl. a.; wet steam (see quot.); wet strength, the strength of paper and textiles when wet; wet suit, a suit, usu. of rubber, worn by divers, surfers, etc., to protect them from the cold; hence wet-suited a.; wet time, in the building trade, time during which work cannot be carried out owing to bad weather; wet trade (see quots.); wet-weather a., (a) associated with or occurring in rainy weather; (b) designed for use in rainy weather; wet-white, liquid white theatrical make-up; wet wing Aeronaut. (see quot. 1969); usu. attrib.
1929Foreign Affairs Oct. 101 The peon walks or swims across..and is welcomed by his countrymen here as a ‘*wet back’. 1972Observer (Colour Suppl.) 28 May 28/1 Last year in California alone, border patrols turned back 27,000 wetbacks (the contemptuous name derives from their practice of swimming the Rio Grande to reach the US). 1978N.Y. Times Mag. 23 July 23/2 Wetbacks (a derogation of Mexicans swimming the Rio Grande to slip into the U.S.) became illegal aliens, and are now referred to as undocumented persons. 1979Guardian 8 June 5/2 Illegal migrants from South China..are getting into Hong Kong..usually swimming the last part of the trip. The total of Chinese ‘wetbacks’ intercepted..in the first week of June alone came to 3,722. 1982T. Beattie Diamonds xii. 100 It might be that wetback job I did... But they can't prove anything.
1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Jan. 23/6 (Advt.), Panelled family room, games room, *wet bar. Real executive home! 1978R. Thomas Chinaman's Chance xx. 206 Ploughman turned to find Reginald Simms standing by a small wet bar across the room.
1865,1886*wet bob [see Bob n.7]. 1872Daily News 7 Aug., The ‘wetbobs’ of the Solent are not so absolutely the creatures of the weather office as the ‘drybobs’ of Canterbury. 1901D. 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.
1884J. Montagu Let. Mar. in Troubridge & Marshall John Ld. Montagu of Beaulieu (1930) 31, I have been out *wet-bobbing several times and am getting coached. 1901G. Frankau Eton Echoes 40 (heading) Wet Bobbing. 1926Spectator 3 July 11/1 Any alternative summer game or sport..such as is provided by ‘wet-bobbing’ at a school like Eton.
1849E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 228 The *wet-bulb Thermometer was generally 10° lower than the dry one till the beginning of June. 1916Lancet 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.
1435Coventry Leet Bk. 172 No walker..Shall Rakke no Clothe on the Teyntur that schall be solde ffor *wette-clothe. 1439Rolls of Parlt. V. 30/2 Mesurynge for the dosenne of wete Clothe xii yerdes and xii ynches, and of secce Clothe nought wete, xiiii yerdes and xiiii ynches.
1849J. Wyld Geogr. & Mineral. Notes 21 The works are divided into two classes,—Dry Diggings and *Wet Diggings. 1862J. L. C. Richardson Sk. Otago 48 See how the wet diggings will pay in the summer time. 1935E. B. Buckbee Saga Old Tuolumne 11 He worked ceaselessly throughout the day lifting gold from the ‘wet diggings’. 1965G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. vii. 72/1 The conglomerates accumulated on the slopes of the mountains are the proper field for the ‘dry diggings’, while from the gravel and sand of the beds of rivers and smaller streams the gold is obtained by ‘wet diggings’.
1851W. Acton Pract. Treatise Diseases of Urinary Organs (ed. 2) i. ii. 226 Spermatorrhœa..is known..as nocturnal or diurnal emissions, pollutions, *wet-dreams, [etc.]. 1921H. Crane Let. 11 Feb. (1965) 53 The wet-dream explosions of Virgil Jordan and McAlmon. Their talk is all right—but what is true of it has been said adequately before. 1946B. Marshall George Brown's Schooldays 170 Well, what are you standing there looking like a wet dream for? 1963A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex ii. 16 It is at this stage that nocturnal emissions or ‘wet dreams’ as they are often called, are frequently the first clear sign of sexual maturity in the boy. 1971B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect 10 Jesus, what a wet dream of a party that was! 1978A. Neave Nuremburg viii. 86 He was said by the prosecution to have boasted to his chauffeur of nightly wet dreams and exhibited the semen to prove it.
1967E. McGirr Hearse with Horses iii. 50 If a race was fixed they wouldn't need a *wet-eared kid mixed up with it. 1971F. Forsyth Day of Jackal i. i. 21 Apart from a few wet-eared ninnies who refused to come, Rodin led his entire battalion into the military putsch of April 1961.
1888Cross & Bevan Text-bk. Paper-Making x. 154 This part of the machine, which is called the ‘*wet-end’, is placed at a slight slope. 1927T. Woodhouse Artif. Silk iii. 25 The wet pulp is now run on to the feed end, usually termed the ‘wet⁓end’, of the drying machine. 1962Wet end [see dry end s.v. dry a. C. 3].
1875F. 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. 1904W. M. Gallichan Fishing Spain 207 The ordinary winged patterns used for wet-fly fishing.
1832Cobbett 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 glover1 b]. 1726Dict. 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.
1544Inv. in Surrey Archæol. Collect. VII. 238 The dry larder... The Kechyn... The *Whet larder. Itm in the Wett larder A musterd quern, iiij d. 1574Richmond Wills (Surtees) 247 In the wett larder ii kymlinges, one trowghe. 1605in Archæologia XIII. 330 The Clarcke of the Kittchine..is to see into the wette and drie larders, what provisions there bee.
1962Aeroplane & Astronautics CII. 88/2 Philippine Air Lines has *wet-leased (i.e., aircraft plus flight crew) a Boeing 707 from Pan American. 1977Indian Express 18 May 1/2 The Airbus will be either wet leased or chartered by Air-India. 1979Daily Tel. 8 June 36/6 Aircraft can be leased by the hour, day, week, month, quarterly or longer on a ‘dry’ lease which means that crews are not provided, or on a ‘wet’ lease which means that the owner of the aircraft also supplies crew and, in some cases, the necessary fuel.
1978Observer 29 Jan. 1/5 These too will have to be taken out of service for modifications, and their place taken by ‘*wet leased’ foreign aircraft (that is, planes taken complete with their own crews).
1922D. H. Lawrence Let.? 12 Oct. (1962) II. 726 Being too much of a *wet-leg, as they say in England, nakedly to enter into the battle. 1929― Pansies 124 It is strange to think of the Annas, the Vronskys, the Pierres, all the Tolstoyan lot Wiped out... And the Tchekov wimbly-wambly wet-legs all wiped out. 1981Times Lit. Suppl. 3 July 745/1 We know how much Auden hated wet-legs, how constantly he repeated his many litanies of his own good fortune.
1968J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 102 The ‘*Wet Look’ is a chemical finish to fabrics to make them appear shiny and wet. 1969Times 24 Nov. 16/2 Natural coloured python or wet-look patent are the most fashionable finishes for day. 1970D. Uhnak Ledger (1971) ix. 114 Her lips, shining with a wet-look lipstick, quivered. 1971Daily Tel. 2 Feb. 11 (caption) The chair and stool covered in white wet-look fabric. 1981Westindian World 31 July 14/2 (Advt.), Hot & cold straightening, curly perm, wet look.
c1865Letheby in Wylde's Circ. Sci. I. 127/1 There are two objections to the *wet meter, which are insurmountable. 1869–71Cassell's Househ. Guide II. 17/2 The gas meters now in general use..are known as ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ meters.
1928–9Army & Navy Stores Catal. 419/1 *Wet Pack. Fitted with comb and nail file, etc. Size closed, 5½ × 4½ in... Pigskin 12/–. 1974Harrods Christmas Catal. 18/2 For travelling men... Two wet packs with waterproof linings.
1859Reeve Brittany 123 Our camera, already charged with a *wet plate. 1878Abney Treat. Photogr. xi. 77 Wet-plate photography.
1920*Wet-point [see dry-point village s.v. dry a. C. 3]. 1969G. C. Dickinson Maps & Air Photographs xiv. 216 (heading) ‘Wet-point’ sites—i.e. places with an available water supply.
1909Webster, Wet... Chem., etc. Employing, or done by means of, or in the presence of, water or other liquid... The *wet process or way. 1930Engineering 3 Jan. 18/3 The Assano Portland Cement Company's works at Nishitama. This is a wet-process plant. 1945H. D. Smyth Gen. Acct. Devel. Atomic Energy Mil. Purposes vii. 75 Study of product recovery processes as a whole (wet processes, physical methods). 1969Wet process [see by-product b].
1907F. E. E. Bell At Works v. 122 Some of the yearly benefit clubs of which the head-quarters are at public-houses demand..an extra contribution, from 1d. to 3d., what is called the ‘*wet rent’, which is quite deliberately allowed for drink each meeting-night. 1967Economist 29 Apr. 480/2 The Jones board has implicitly accused the brewers of subsidising too many low volume country pubs, by charging less than the market rents but rather more for their beer, a practice known in the trade as a ‘wet rent’. In actual fact, wet rents are steadily becoming proportionately less important, and the brewer's idea is to protect the publican against the ups and downs of trade by charging him, in effect, a rent that varies slightly with beer sales, thus identifying his interest more closely with that of the brewer. 1978Times 3 May 19/6 The brewers..continue phasing out ‘wet’ rents under which a tenant pays more or less to the brewery according to the amount of beer sold through the pub.
1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. viii, Sparrows were there, cats were there, dry-rot and *wet-rot were there. 1876Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 161 Wet-rot is the destructive agent at work more or less on all telegraph poles.
1726De Foe Eng. Tradesman I. viii. 98 The orange-merchants and *wet-salters about Billingsgate.
1976NBR Marketplace (Wellington, N.Z.) iii. 2/1 Something over 50 per cent of the estimated 900,000 regular shavers in New Zealand prefer a *wet shave start to the day. Ibid. 2/3 About 94 per cent of wet shavers use the safety razor with double-edge blades or the modern single-edge blade systems.
1964Financial Times 25 Feb. 11/8 The chief obstacle at present is the *wet-shaving industry's promotion of the new stainless steel blades. 1980‘D. Kavanagh’ Duffy iii. 44 They only took the television set and his electric razor... He went back to wet shaving.
1927Amer. Speech III. 221 *Wet smack,..something unsatisfactory; applies particularly to an individual who spoils a party; a kill-joy. 1929Wodehouse Mr. Mulliner Speaking i. 33 The man is beyond question a flat tyre and a wet smack. 1977Maledicta Summer 17 If she is actually frigid, she's a wet smack.
1963A. J. Hall Textile Sci. ii. 75 Some of these polymers are soluble in organic solvents..and thus allow the preparation of solutions which can be dry spun..or *wet spun—that is, extruded into a coagulating bath. 1973Materials & Technol. VI. iv. 328 Polyacrylonitrile solutions have been wet-spun..into a coagulating bath.
1864*Wet spinning [see dry spinning s.v. dry a. C. 3]. 1927T. Woodhouse Artif. Silk 28 The coagulation by means of liquid of any kind has given rise to the term ‘wet spinning’, whereas the term ‘dry-spinning’ has been applied in all cases where the solvent is vaporized. 1969A. J. Hall Stand. Handbk. Textiles (ed. 7) iii. 127 In wet spinning the roving is led through a trough of hot water..so that the fibres are softened.
1973Materials & Technol. VI. iv. 295 Another method of taking up the *wet spun yarn.
1858R. Murray Marine Engines (ed. 3) 237 *Wet steam is steam which holds watery particles in mechanical suspension.
1960R. W. Marks Dymaxion World of B. Fuller 59/1 Even in 1954 Kraft paper having exceptional ‘wet tensile strength’ had been developed—‘*wet strength’ meaning the ability of the paper to retain its structural quality when saturated. 1962J. T. Marsh Self-Smoothing Fabrics xiv. 211 These examples of dimensional stability are of some consequence, and indeed of great consequence with fibres of regenerated cellulose whose low wet-strength is a serious defect but one which is remedied by the crease-resisting process. 1973Nature 27 Apr. 588/1 Cross linking has been used for over thirty years in making ‘wet strength’ papers.
1955*Wet suit [see dry suit s.v. dry a. C. 3]. 1964Skin Diver Oct. 19 An American skin diver aboard an Irish fishing boat..had a difficult time convincing the skipper that his ‘wet’ suit would save a man's life if he fell into the freezing water. 1970Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 18 Sept. 12 On deck three of us, clad in rubber wetsuits, prepared to slip over the side. 1972Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 4 June 16/1 The wet suit, worn to keep the diver warm, is almost a necessity in these northern waters. 1984S. Townsend Growing Pains A. Mole 78 She looked dead erotic in her black wetsuit and crash helmet.
1972Nat. Geographic Oct. 584 *Wet-suited author examines the giant wraparound grin of a right whale. 1978D. Williams Treasure up in Smoke xix. 174 The alerted wet-suited figure had..waded to the beach.
1938Times 5 May 10/4 For nearly 20 years the building trade operatives have..claimed that for uncontrollable irregularities of employment..there should be a scheme of compensation for loss of earnings. The phrase which they used to focus the claim was ‘payment for *wet time’. 1952Economist 12 July 118/2 Steel erectors on American building sites do not enjoy either a guaranteed week or payment for ‘wet-time’.
1962Listener 26 July 154/3 The ‘do-it-yourself’ enthusiast who is preparing to tackle garden operations involving the use of cement, lime, and water—the so-called ‘*wet trades’. 1973Times 24 Feb. 13/1 The shortage of skilled workers, particularly in the ‘wet trades’ of bricklaying and plastering.
1858T. S. Woodward Let. 20 Dec. in Reminisc. (1939) 157 Fortunately, we found a little *wet-weather spring near the top. 1901[see wet a. 2 e]. 1922M. A. von Arnim Enchanted April i. 8 Big grey eyes almost disappearing under a smashed-down wet-weather hat. 1934M. V. Hughes London Child iii. 28 The boys were off on some long wet⁓weather tramp. 1978‘D. Rutherford’ Collision Course 182 I'm gambling on rain... We're giving you wet⁓weather tyres.
1922M. Arlen Piracy iii. xiv. 256 Just look how depraved they are! They are covered with verdigris, but they call it *wet-white! 1976‘D. Fletcher’ Don't whistle ‘Macbeth’ 51 The first time I sang Elvira, I had to cover myself from head to toe with wet-white.
[1958Flying Rev. Oct. 37/1 Scheduled to Supplement earlier Stratofortresses currently serving with the Strategic Air Command, the B-52G employs a ‘wet’ integral-tank wing which substantially increases the bomber's unrefuelled range.] 1961Flight LXXIX. 818/2 These new ‘*wet wing’ versions, with greatly increased weight and machined-plank wing skins, have suffered local stresses greater than any experienced with the earlier versions of lower weight and performance. 1969New Scientist 25 Sept. (Microbes in Industry Suppl.) 23/2 In modern ‘wet-wing’ aircraft, such as Concorde, the fuel is simply pumped into the wings which are coated internally with sealants. In older aircraft..the fuel is contained in rubber bags in the wings.
▪ IV. wet, v.|wɛt|
Forms: α. inf. 1 wǽtan, Anglian wétan, 3–6 wete, (5 Sc. wet, vete), 4–7 weete, (6 pa. tense weeted), 5–6 Sc. weit, 6 weate, 7 weat, 6– (chiefly Sc.) weet. pa. tense 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. tense 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. tense and pple. in ME. was finally extended to the inf. and present.]
I. trans.
1. a. 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.
a950Guthlac xxii. (Prose) Heo..ᵹenam þa þæs ᵹehal⁓ᵹodan sealtes..and wætte and drypte in þa eaᵹan. a1000Riddles xii[i]. 10 Hwilum mec..dol druncmennen..wæteð in wætre. c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 134 Wæt þæt liþ mid ecede. Ibid. 350 Wæt þæt ᵹewrit on þam drence. c1275Passion of Our Lord 103 in O.E. Misc. 40 Þat bred þat ich on wyne wete. a1300Cursor M. 17682 And wit a deu mi face he wette. c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 1115 Therwith his pows and pawmes of his hondes They gan to frote, and wete his temples tweyne. 1390Gower Conf. III. 36 Send Lazar doun..And do that he his finger wete In water. a1400Morte Arth. 2332 There barbours ware bownne, with basyns one lofte, With warme watire i-wys they wette theme fulle sone. c1400Mandeville xviii. [xiv.] (1919) 105 Ȝif a man..wete hem with may dew ofte sithes. c1430Two Cookery-bks. 52 Take fayre Paynemayn y-wette in Wyne. 1550W. P. tr. Curio's Pasquin in Trance 24 They..wet the graue with vnholy water, and they perfumed it with Frankincense. 1560Whitehorne Ord. Souldiours (1588) 39 b, A stoppell of cotten wet in oyle of gineper. 1677J. White Rich Cabinet 143 You must let the Paper dry of it self after you have once wetted it. 1684J. S. Profit & Pleasure united 23 Cleansing their mouths..with a spung or Linnen cloath wett in Beer. 1707Ir. 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-load of hay to be of the weight prescribed. c1770T. Fairfax Compl. Sportsm. 31 Then having wetted your hand in water, rub his body all over. 1813Southey Nelson I. 235 All the shrouds and sails of his ship, which were not absolutely necessary for its immediate management, were thoroughly wetted. 1859Handbk. Turning 83 A small camel's-hair brush..used for wetting postage stamps. 1869R. T. Claridge Cold Water Cure 190 Her head, throat, and chest, were frequently wetted with cold water. 1907J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6) 103 As soon as the paper is wetted with the solution.
Proverb.1546J. Heywood Prov. ii. v. (1867) 58 He loueth well sheeps flesh, that wets his bred in the wul.
b. Sci. Of a liquid: to cover or penetrate (a substance or object) readily, so that a small quantity spreads uniformly over it rather than lying as droplets upon it.
A common criterion of wetting is the angle that the surface of a droplet makes, at its point of contact, with the surface on which it rests (as measured through the liquid): the liquid is said to wet or not to wet the surface according as the angle is less or greater than 90 degrees.
1855D. Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Philos.: Hydrostatics i. v. 69 If a liquid be poured into a vessel whose sides are of such a nature as to be wetted by it, the liquid..will be curved upwards near the points where it touches the side. 1884A. Daniell Text Bk. Princ. Physics xi. 246 Objects which are wetted by the liquid in which they float are thus apparently attracted by it; those which are not so are apparently repelled. 1932Phytopathology XXII. 926 The presence of an appreciable quantity of sodium hydroxide..increases the ease with which the leaves can be ‘wetted’ in the solution. 1967M. Chandler Ceramics in Mod. World vi. 171 Silicon nitride..is not wetted by molten metals. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XI. 782/1 The adhesion of water to glass at an air-water-glass interface is greater than the cohesion of water, and hence water is said to wet the glass... The cohesion of mercury is greater than its adhesion to glass and it does not wet the glass. 1978Nature 20 July 237/1 An example of this is a droplet of the liquid resting on a solid surface. When the contact angle is less that 90°, the liquid wets the solid. Molten beryllium does not wet BeO because the contact angle exceeds 90°.
2. To suffuse with tears, bedew with weeping. Also said of the tears.
c825Vesp. Psalter vi. 7 Mid tearum strene mine ic wetu. a1300E.E. Psalter vi. 6 With mi teres in mi bede Sal i wete mi liggynge-stede. a1310in Wright Lyric P. xv. 47 Un-wunne haveth myn wonges wet. c1375Sc. 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. 1596Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 44 And all the way she wetts with flowing teares. c1600Shakes. Sonn. ix. 1 Is it for feare to wet a widdowes eye, That thou consum'st thy selfe in single life? 1614J. Cooke Greene's Tu Quoque B 3 b, Giue not your friends cause to wet their handkerchers. 1616B. Jonson Epigr. xxxiii, Who wets my graue, can be no friend of mine. 1682Bunyan Holy War (1905) 289 Then they..kissed his feet, and wetted them with tears. 1742Fielding J. Andrews iii. xii, A river of tears ran down her lovely cheeks, and wet the handkerchief which covered her bosom. 1836Landor Pericles & Asp. lx, Her tears wetted my cheek. 1868L. 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.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 246 Ne þæt win is to þicgenne þætte hæteþ & wæteþ þone Innoþ. 1560Googe tr. 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, wet to the skin: to drench the clothes of (a person).
a. Said of water, rain, etc.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6578 Þat water..wax euere uaste,..& watte is sson & is vet. a1300Cursor M. 23685 Waters þat wete þan cristes flexs. 1387Trevisa Higden II. 25 Þe water wolde..wete [MS. γ weete] al her cloþes. c1480Henryson Age & Youth 4 Perly dropis of þe balmy schowris Þir wodis grene hed with þe watter wet. 1530Palsgr. 780/2 In the begynnyng of the yere the dewe weteth the grounde swetely. 1589Pappe w. Hatchet in Lyly's Wks. (Bond) III. 394 We care not for a Scottish mist, though it wet vs to the skin. 1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 218 Men..of as bad a nature and base a moulde as euer water wette, or winde dried. 1658Nicholas Papers (Camden) IV. 57 Wee had not above 4 shots of powder and that the worst that euer water wet. a1700Evelyn Diary an. 1646, These waters in some places breaking in the fall wett us as if we had pass'd through a mist. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 554 The Place was not deep, but it wetted me all over. 1795Southey Lett. fr. Spain (1799) 60 The clouds wetted me as they passed along. 1816Tuckey Narr. Exped. R. Zaire v. (1818) 179 During the night we had two smart showers of rain, which..wetted us through. 1839Dickens Nich. Nick. 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. 1858Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Phil. 73 If a capillary tube be plunged in a liquid which wets it. 1874March. Dufferin Canad. Jrnl. (1891) 171 A thunder-shower..which wetted us to the skin. 1884Law Times Rep. LI. 229/2 The water..soaked under the wall and wetted the mud below it.
fig.a1340Hampole Psalter xvii. 17 Apparuerunt fontes aquarum..þat is þe sothfastnes of prechours is seen, þat wetis men wiþ halesome lare. 1627E. F. Edw. II (1680 fol.) 93 What can he do to England, which hath a wooden wall will wet his courage?
b. absol.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace 10340 Wyþ rysyng wawes,..Fer aboute hym wil he [the lake] wete. Ibid. 10343 Þe wawes þat so wetes. a1600Montgomerie Misc. Poems v. 44 All is not gold that gleitis..Nor water all that weitis. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 27 The propertie of raine is to wet, and fire to burne. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 373 All they ever have is a dew, which is so slender it never wets at all. 1661Boyle Physiol. Ess. (1669) 187 Though every wetting Liquor be fluid, yet every fluid Body does not wet. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 82 The purest water wets soonest and most.
c. pass. Often to be wet through, (also † thorough wet 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.
c1400tr. Higden VII. 151 In processe of tyme þat body y-wette wiþ dewy droppes knewe þe comoun corrupcioun of dedly men. c1400Laud Troy Bk. 12942 So faste doun the water ȝet, That thei were alle thorow wet. 1497Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 129 The Newe making of a last of gonnepoudre wett in saltwater. 1535Coverdale Dan. iv. 15 With the dew of heauen shall he be wet. 1542Udall 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. 1589Puttenham 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]. 1639J. 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. 1659in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 141 Hee..was wett to the skin before he came half way. 1759Johnson Idler No. 71 ⁋9 He..heard with great delight a shower, by which he was not wet, rattling among the branches. a1766F. 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. 1775A. Burnaby Trav. N. Amer. 36, I had been wet to the skin in the afternoon. 1820Southey Wesley I. 78 Having slept on the floor one night, because his bed had been wetted in a storm. 1842Min. 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. 1856Hawthorne Engl. Note-bks. (1870) II. 14 We were caught in two or three showers..but got back..without being very much wetted. 1898A. Balfour To Arms vii, The street was paved with large, rounded stones, which..were splashed and wetted by dirty water thrown from above. 1904A. N. Cooper Quaint Talks 10 Few things have struck people as more wonderful than how I have survived being wet through so often.
5. a. 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.
1338R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 204 Sir kyng rise vp & skip, for þou has wette þi hater. c1386Chaucer Prol. 129 She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle Ne wette hir fyngres in hir sauce depe. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 21 Þat wymmen schuld mow wade ouer and noȝt wete þaire kneesse. 1589Hakluyt Voy. 542 When they can flye no further [they] fall into the water, and hauing wette their wings take a newe flight againe. 1639J. Taylor (Water P.) Part Summers Trav. 40 You know you need not wet your foot to seek them, they are your own already. 1770C. 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 coach-horses, wetted two servants to the skin [etc.]. 1816G. S. Faber Orig. Pagan Idol. I. 398 Every morning they [certain aquatic birds] repaired to the sea, wetted their wings, and sprinkled the sacred edifice. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xiii, Twa finer dentier wild-ducks never wat a feather. 1846A. Marsh Father Darcy xliv, In traversing the ford of the Stour..they have wetted the bag of powder. 1873March. Dufferin Canad. Jrnl. (1891) 82 The gentlemen..in getting into the canoe..were upset, and wet all their clothes.
b. Proverb.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame 1785 For ye be lyke the sweynte catte, That wolde haue fissh but..He wold no thinge wete his clowes. 1390Gower Conf. II. 39 As a cat wolde ete fisshes Withoute wetinge of his cles. c1394P. Pl. Crede 405 Þou woldest not weten þy fote, & woldest fich kacchen. 1545Taverner Erasm. Prov. 59 b, The cat wold fyshe eate, but she woll not her fete weate. 1546J. 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). to wet one's pants fig., to become excited or upset (as if to the extent of involuntarily voiding urine).
1767Ordinary's Acc. Eliz. Brownrigg 10 The deceased child had wetted the bed. 1899Allbutt'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. 1979‘M. Underwood’ Smooth Justice i. 35 There are quite a few people who'll wet their pants if I get sent down. 1981A. Price Soldier no More 184 We did see the Histories season at Stratford, I grant you. But I don't remember any schoolgirls wetting their pants next to me.
d. refl. To urinate involuntarily. Also fig. (as at sense 5 c above).
1922Joyce Ulysses 730 What do I care with it dropping out of me and that black closed breeches he made me buy takes you half an hour to let them down wetting all myself. 1970G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 258 The Sunday editors would wet themselves; they liked nothing better than a sordid purge in an institution. 1976Times Lit. Suppl. 30 Jan. 100/5 She also sweats, weeps, vomits and wets herself.
6. Of a river, sea, etc.:
a. To water, irrigate (land).
1382Wyclif Josh. xiii. 3 The trubli flood that weetith [Vulg. irrigat] Egipt. a1425Cursor M. 1318 (Trin.) Fison, gison, tigre & eufrate, Al erþe þese weten erly & late. 1773Fergusson 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.
1572T. Twyne tr. Dionysius' Surv. World A v, The Sea..which..wetting the countrie Issica..is called Issicum. a1774Fergusson Auld Reekie 319 As lang as Forth weets Lothian's shore.
7. a. to wet (one's) whistle, weasand, mouth, beak, beard, etc.: to take a drink. See also clay n. 4 b.
c1386[see whistle n. 2]. c1460Towneley Myst. xiii. 103 Had She oones Wett Hyr Whystyll She couth Syng full clere Hyr pater noster. 1530,1653[see whistle n. 2]. 1611Cotgr., Crocquer la pie, to wet the whistle, or weason, throughly; to drinke hard. 1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin ii. 154 Wetting their Whistles with the good Ale-pot. 1722Croxall Fables æsop xcviii. 169 I'll give you a Dram to wet your Whistle. a1774Fergusson Auld Reekie 4 Whare couthy chiels at e'ening meet Their bizzing craigs and mous to weet. 1785Burns Scotch Drink xiv, Monie daily weet their weason Wi' liquors nice. 1850Dickens Dav. Copp. vii, The wine shall be kept to wet your whistle. 1888R. Buchanan Heir of Linne i, I ne'er can sing till my throat's wetted, Tammas. 1910W. H. Hudson Sheph. Life xi. 135 The starlings..singing and talking and swallowing elderberries between whiles to wet their whistles. 1939T. S. Eliot Old Possum's Bk. Pract. Cats 16 For to the Bell at Hampton he had gone to wet his beard. 1978J. Carroll Mortal Friends i. v. 53 Is there a public house here where a fellow could wet his beak?
†b. pass. To be primed with liquor. (Cf. wet a. 14 a.) Obs.
c1440Partonope 5198 And so they dronke þat boþe they bene Welle I-wette [Rawl. MS. Well wet]. 1540R. Hyrde tr. 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.
c1440York 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. 1672R. Wild Poet. Licentia 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.
1745Life 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. 1840J. T. J. Hewlett P. Priggins xiii, Take one more jug of beer—wet t'other eye, we call it. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop lxii, Moisten your clay, wet the other eye, drink, man! a1845Barham 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’.
1783J. Woodforde Diary 9 Oct. (1926) II. 97 With the latter I walked to the Swan and there wetted with him that is, drank a glass of Wine. 1840Haliburton Clockm. Ser. iii. xi. 147 But come, let's liquour; I want to wet up. 1880Baring-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.
1878T. 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. a. To celebrate by drinking; to have a drink over.
The earliest use is to wet a commission (in the Army or Navy).
a1687Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Milit. Couple Wks. 1715 I. 128 He was as Drunk as a Chaplain of the Army upon wetting his Commission. 1698J. H. Farquhar's Love & Bottle Prol., Come on then; foot to foot be boldly set, And our young Author's new Commission wet. 1710C. Shadwell Fair Quaker Deal ii. 27 Crib . Ay, the two Ships would serve us nicely. Easey. Then we should have Commissions to wet. 1711Steele Spect. No. 88 ⁋4 Three Quarts to my new Lord for wetting his Title. 1829Marryat F. Mildmay xvi, They..declared I should give them a dinner to wet my commission. a1854L. Beecher Lect. Intemperance 23 Until in some places a man can scarcely wear an article of dress, or receive one of equipage or furniture, which has not been ‘wetted’. 1876Hindley Cheap Jack 268, I shall be back again shortly, when we will wet the deal. 1894A. Robertson Nuggets 16 Drinks is to be redooced to-day from a shillin' to sixpence, so we'll wet the occasion.
b. to wet the baby's head and varr.: to drink to celebrate the birth of a child. colloq.
1885W. Westall Old Factory xxiv. 161 ‘We'll wet little Mabel's head with some of it.’ ‘What mean you?’.. ‘Why my wife was brought to bed last night of a little lass as we are going to call Mabel, and I'd like us to drink to her health. That's what we call wetting a child's head in these parts.’ 1924Lawrence & Skinner Boy in Bush xiv. 210 Come along in—all welcome!—an' wet the baby's eye. 1953E. Simon Past Masters iii. v. 173 At the party given to ‘wet the baby's head’ the McGillivrays' friends and relations produced only large and expensive gifts. 1970Guardian 2 May 3/7 If he had not been wetting the baby's head, and so been slightly above proof, he might have run for it.
9.
†a. Naut. To cast or drop (an anchor). Obs.
a1600Montgomerie Misc. Poems xlviii. 168 We wat ane anchor evin betuixt they tua. 1638Mayne 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.
1653Walton Angler iii. 80, I have not yet wet my line since I came from home. 1898G. 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.
1695Lond. Gaz. No. 3076/4 A large Mault House that wets 700 Quarters per Annum. 1742Lond. & Country Brew. i. (ed. 4) 22 In a great Brew-house..they wetted or used a considerable Quantity of Malt in one Week. 1844J. T. J. 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; also with tea-leaves as obj. dial. and colloq.
1902Cornh. Mag. Dec. 776, I ha' wetted th' tea pretty nigh half-an-hour ago. 1905H. G. Wells Kipps iii. ii. §3 Ann..stooped with the kettle-holder to wet the tea. 1916Blackw. Mag. Apr. 499/1 ‘Aye, aye, sir,’ replies the duty servant. ‘Tea just being wetted.’ (We never ‘make’ tea, we always ‘wet’ it!) 1939Joyce Finnegan's Wake 585 You never wet the tea! 1944M. Laski Love on Supertax viii. 77 Make yourself at home, and I'll just wet the tea-leaves. 1978I. Murdoch Sea 419 ‘I'll wet the tea,’ said Hartley and disappeared into the kitchen.
11. to wet down, to damp (sails, paper, embers) with water.
1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast iv, We..continued wetting down the sails by buckets of water whipped up to the mast⁓head. 1888Jacobi Printers' Vocab., Wetting down, the process of damping paper for printing purposes. 1891Daily 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.
1882Crookes Dyeing 106 The yarns or pieces are first wetted out uniformly with water. 1900Jrnl. Soc. Dyers XVI. 8 Before dyeing, the bodies [of hats] are well wetted-out in boiling water.
13. Glass-making. to wet off, wet up. (See quots. and cf. wetter 1 b, wetting vbl. n. 3 d.)
1849A. Pellatt Curios. Glass Making 85 The pontil secures the whole preparatory to its being whetted [sic] off the bowl..by the touch of the cold pucellas. 1908Rosenhain 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..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.
a1310in Wright Lyric P. ix. 36 The water that it [sc. a stone] wetes yn, Y-wis hit wortheth al to wyn. 1757in 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. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail xviii, I thought any leather would wet through in the snow!
15. To rain, drizzle. dial.
1740Richardson Pamela II. 88 Dont you think that yonder Cloud may give us a small Shower? and it did a little begin to wet. 1825Jamieson, To weit, weet, to rain. 1828Carr Craven Gloss., Wit, to rain gently. 1886Chesh. Gloss., Weet or wet, to rain slightly.
16. Naut. Of a vessel: To ship water.
1875Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. vi. 214 A reef should be taken in directly the boat begins to wet.
17. To urinate. Also fig.
1925D. H. Lawrence Novel in Reflections on Death of Porcupine 122 But see old Leo Tolstoi wetting on the flame. As if even his wet were absolute! 1935V. Woolf Let. 21 June (1979) V. 403 The marmoset is just about to wet on my shoulder. 1954J. Steinbeck Sweet Thursday xiv. 82 House-broken dogs wet on the parlor rug. 1975J. Cleary Safe House ii. 71 The children want to wet... Come on, love. Have your wet.
III. 18. The vb. stem in comb., as wet-bed = bed-wetter s.v. bed n. 19.
1934‘J. Spenser’ Limey breaks In iv. 61, I lay awake for so long that I heard the night watchman come to call the wet-beds. 1960J. Stroud Shorn Lamb xviii. 204 Does he enurete?.. I've got four chronic wet-beds already.
▪ V. wet, adv. rare—1.
[f. wet a. in wet nurse.]
As a wet nurse.
1697Vanburgh Relapse v. v, I who had suckled it, and swadled it, and nurst it both wet and dry.
▪ VI. wet
obs. form of what, wit v. |