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Walnut Tree to Ward Walnut Tree It is said that the walnut tree thrives best if the nuts are beaten off with sticks, and not
gathered. Hence Fuller says, Who, like a nut tree, must be manured by beating, or else would not bear
fruit (bk. ii. ch. 11). The saying is well known that- A woman, a spaniel, and a walnut tree,Walpurgis Night The eve of May Day, when the old pagan witch-world was supposed to hold high revelry under its chief on certain high places. The Brocken of Germany was a favourite spot for these revelries. Walpurgis was a female saint concerned in the introduction of Christianity into Germany. She died February 25th, 779. He changed hands, and whisked and rioted like a dance of Walpurgis in his lonely brain.- J. S. Le Fanu: The House in the Churchyard, p. 109.Walston (St.). A Briton who gave up all his wealth, and supported himself by manual husbandry. Patron saint of husbandmen; usually depicted with a scythe in his hand, and cattle in the background. Died mowing, 1016. Walter Multon Abbot of Thornton-upon-Humber, in Lincolnshire, was immured in 1443. In 1722, an old wall being taken down, his remains were found with a candlestick, table, and book. Stukeley mentions the fact. In 1845 another instance of the same kind was discovered at Temple Bruer, in Lin colnshire. Waltham Blacks (See Black Act .) Walton An Izaak Wallon. One devoted to the gentle craft of angling. Izaak Walton wrote a book called
The Complete Angler, or Contemplative Man's Recreation. (1655.) Walton Bridle (The). The gossip's or scold's bridle. One of these bridles is preserved in the vestry
of the church of Walton-on-Thames. Iron bars pass round the head, and are fastened by a padlock. In
front, a flat piece of iron projects, and, this piece of iron being thrust into the mouth, effectually prevents
the utterance of words. The relic at Walton is dated 1633, and the donor was a person named Chester,
as appears from the inscription: Chester presents Walton with a bridleIt is also called a brank. (Teutonic, pranque, a bridle.) Wamba Son of Witless, and jester of Cedric the Saxon, of Rotherwood. (Sir Walter Scott: Ivanhoe.) Wan means thin. (Anglo-Saxon, wan, deficient; our wane, as the waning moon.) As wasting of the flesh is generally accompanied with a grey pallor, the idea of leanness has yielded to that of the sickly hue which attends it. (Verb wan-ian, to wane.) Wand The footman's wand. (See under Running Footmen .) Wandering Jew |
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