Chapter Weaver to Weed of W by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Weaver to Weed

Weaver
(Weav"er) n.

1. One who weaves, or whose occupation is to weave. "Weavers of linen." P. Plowman.

2. (Zoöl.) A weaver bird.

3. (Zoöl.) An aquatic beetle of the genus Gyrinus. See Whirling.

Weaver bird (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of Asiatic, Fast Indian, and African birds belonging to Ploceus and allied genera of the family Ploceidæ. Weaver birds resemble finches and sparrows in size, colors, and shape of the bill. They construct pensile nests composed of interlaced grass and other similar materials. In some of the species the nest is retort-shaped, with the opening at the bottom of the tube. — Weavers' shuttle (Zoöl.), an East Indian marine univalve shell (Radius volva); — so called from its shape. See Illust. of Shuttle shell, under Shuttle.

Weaverfish
(Weav"er*fish`) n. [See Weever.] (Zoöl.) See Weever.

Weaving
(Weav"ing), n.

1. The act of one who, or that which, weaves; the act or art of forming cloth in a loom by the union or intertexture of threads.

2. (Far.) An incessant motion of a horse's head, neck, and body, from side to side, fancied to resemble the motion of a hand weaver in throwing the shuttle. Youatt.

Weazand
(Wea"zand) n. See Weasand. [Obs.]

Weazen
(Wea"zen) a. [See Wizen.] Thin; sharp; withered; wizened; as, a weazen face.

They were weazen and shriveled.

Dickens.

Weazeny
(Wea"zen*y) a. Somewhat weazen; shriveled. [Colloq.] "Weazeny, baked pears." Lowell.

Web
(Web) n. [OE. webbe, AS. webba. See Weave.] A weaver. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Web
(Web), n. [OE. web, AS. webb; akin to D. web, webbe, OHG. weppi, G. gewebe, Icel. vefr, Sw. väf, Dan. væv. See Weave.]

1. That which is woven; a texture; textile fabric; esp., something woven in a loom.

Penelope, for her Ulysses' sake,
Devised a web her wooers to deceive.

Spenser.

Not web might be woven, not a shuttle thrown, or penalty of exile.

Bancroft.

2. A whole piece of linen cloth as woven.

3. The texture of very fine thread spun by a spider for catching insects at its prey; a cobweb. "The smallest spider's web." Shak.

4. Fig.: Tissue; texture; complicated fabrication.

The somber spirit of our forefathers, who wove their web of life with hardly a . . . thread of rose-color or gold.

Hawthorne.

Such has been the perplexing ingenuity of commentators that it is difficult to extricate the truth from the web of conjectures.

W. Irving.