Wealth (?), n. (Econ.) (a) In the private sense, all pooperty which has a money value. (b) In the public sense, all objects, esp. material objects, which have economic utility. (c) Specif. called personal wealth. Those energies, faculties, and habits directly contributing to make people industrially efficient.
Wear, n. The result of wearing or use; consumption, diminution, or impairment due to use, friction, or the like; as, the wear of this coat has been good.
Weath"er map. A map or chart showing the principal meteorological elements at a given hour and over an extended region. Such maps usually show the height of the barometer, the temperature of the air, the relative humidity, the state of the weather, and the direction and velocity of the wind. Isobars and isotherms outline the general distribution of temperature and pressure, while shaded areas indicate the sections over which rain has just fallen. Other lines inclose areas where the temperature has fallen or risen markedly. In tabular form are shown changes of pressure and of temperature, maximum and minimum temperatures, and total rain for each weather station since the last issue, usually 12 hours.
Weather signal. Any signal giving information about the weather. The system used by the United States Weather Bureau includes temperature, cold or hot wave, rain or snow, wind direction, storm, and hurricane signals.
Weather station. (Meteor.) A station for taking meteorological observations, making weather forecasts, or disseminating such information. Such stations are of the first order when they make observations of all the important elements either hourly or by self-registering instruments; of the second order when only important observations are taken; of the third order when simpler work is done, as to record rainfall and maximum and minimum temperatures.
{ Wedge gauge or gage }. A wedge with a graduated edge, to measure the width of a space into which it is thrust.
Wedge gear. A friction gear wheel with wedge-shaped circumferential grooves. -- Wedge gearing.
Weed"less, a. Free from weeds; -- said of a kind of motor-boat propeller the blades of which curve backwardly, as respects the direction of rotation, so that they draw through the water, and so do not gather weeds with which they come in contact.
Week"-end", n. The end of the week; specif., though loosely, the period observed commonly as a holiday, from Saturday noon or Friday night to Monday; as, to visit one for a week-end; also, a house party during a week-end.
Weep"ing tree. (a) Any tree having pendulous branches. (b) A tree from which honeydew or other liquid secretions of insects drip in considerable quantities, esp. one infested by the larvæ of any species of the genus Ptylus, allied to the cuckoo spits, which in tropical countries secrete large quantities of a watery fluid.
Weet"*weet` (?), n. [Native name in Victoria.] A throwing toy, or implement, of the Australian aborigines, consisting of a cigar-shaped stick fastened at one end to a flexible twig. It weighs in all about two ounces, and is about two feet long.
Weight, v. t. (Dyeing) To load (fabrics) as with barite, to increase the weight, etc.
Weil's disease (?). (Med.) An acute infectious febrile disease, resembling typhoid fever, with muscular pains, disturbance of the digestive organs, jaundice, etc.
Weis"mann*ism (?), n. (Biol.) The theories and teachings in regard to heredity propounded by the German biologist August Weismann, esp. in regard to germ plasm as the basis of heredity and the impossibility of transmitting acquired characteristics; -- often called neo- Darwinism.
Weiss beer (?). [G. weissbier white beer.] A light-colored highly effervescent beer made by the top-fermentation process.
Weld steel. A compound of iron, such as puddled steel, made without complete fusion.
Wel"ling*ton boot. [After the Duke of Wellington.] A riding boot for men, the front of which came above the knee; also, a similar shorter boot worn under the trousers.
Wels"bach (?), a. Of or pertaining to Auer von Welsbach or the incandescent gas burner invented by him. -- Welsbach burner, a burner in which the combustion of a mixture of air and gas or vapor is employed to heat to incandescence a mantle composed of thoria and ceria. The mantle is made by soaking a "stocking" in a solution of nitrates of thorium and cerium (approx. 99 : 1), drying, and, for use, igniting to burn the thread and convert the nitrates into oxides, which remain as a fragile ash. The light far exceeds that obtained from the same amount of gas with the ordinary fishtail burner, but has a slight greenish hue.
Welsh (?), v. t. & i. (a) To cheat by avoiding payment of bets; -- said esp. of an absconding bookmaker at a race track. [Slang] (b) To avoid dishonorably the fulfillment of a pecuniary obligation. [Slang]
||Welt"an"schau`ung (?), n.; pl. Weltanschauungen (#). [G.] Lit., world view; a conception of the course of events in, and of the purpose of, the world as a whole, forming a philosophical view or apprehension of the universe; the general idea embodied in a cosmology.
Wel"ter*weight` (?), n. 1. (Horse Racing) A weight of 28 pounds (one of 40 pounds is called a heavy welterweight) sometimes imposed in addition to weight for age, chiefly in steeplechases and hurdle races.
2. A boxer or wrestler whose weight is intermediate between that of a lightweight and that of a middleweight.
||Welt"schmertz` (?), n. [G., fr. welt world + schmertz pain. See World; Smart, v. i.] Sorrow or sadness over the present or future evils or woes of the world in general; sentimental pessimism.
||Wên"-li` (?), n. [Chin. wên li.] The higher literary idiom of Chinese, that of the canonical books and of all composition pretending to literary standing. It employs a classical or academic diction, and a more condensed and sententious style than Mandarin, and differs also in the doubling and arrangement of words.
West, a. (Eccl.) Designating, or situated in, that part of a church which is opposite to, and farthest from, the east, or the part containing the chancel and choir.
Wet-bulb thermometer. (Physics) That one of the two similar thermometers of a psychrometer the bulb of which is moistened; also, the entire instrument.
Wet plate. (Photog.) A plate the film of which retains its sensitiveness only while wet. The film used in such plates is of collodion impregnated with bromides and iodides. Before exposure the plate is immersed in a solution of silver nitrate, and immediately after exposure it is developed and fixed.
Whack (?), v. t. To divide into shares; as, to whack the spoils of a robbery; -- often with up. [Slang]
Whack, n. A portion; share; allowance. [Slang] -- Out of whack, out of order. [Slang]
Whale"back` (?), n. (Naut.) A form of vessel, often with steam power, having sharp ends and a very convex upper deck, much used on the Great Lakes, esp. for carrying grain.
Whang (?), v. t. 1. To beat; thrash; bang; also, to throw, hurl, or fling about, violently. [Scot. & Dial. Eng.]