Welter
(Wel"ter) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Weltered ; p. pr. & vb. n. Weltering.] [Freq. of OE. walten to
roll over, AS. wealtan; akin to LG. weltern, G. walzen to roll, to waltz, sich wälzen to welter, OHG. walzan
to roll, Icel. velta, Dan. vælte, Sw. vältra, välta; cf. Goth. waltjan; probably akin to E. wallow, well, v. i.
. See Well, v. i., and cf. Waltz.]
1. To roll, as the body of an animal; to tumble about, especially in anything foul or defiling; to wallow.
When we welter in pleasures and idleness, then we eat and drink with drunkards.
Latimer.
These wizards welter in wealth's waves.
Spenser.
He must not float upon his watery bier
Unwept, and welter to the parching wind,
Without the meed of
some melodious tear.
Milton.
The priests at the altar . . . weltering in their blood.
Landor. 2. To rise and fall, as waves; to tumble over, as billows. "The weltering waves." Milton.
Waves that, hardly weltering, die away.
Wordsworth.
Through this blindly weltering sea.
Trench. Welter
(Wel"ter), v. t. [Cf. Wilt, v. i.] To wither; to wilt. [R.]
Weltered hearts and blighted . . . memories.
I. Taylor. Welter
(Wel"ter), a. (Horse Racing) Of, pertaining to, or designating, the most heavily weighted race in
a meeting; as, a welter race; the welter stakes.
Welter
(Wel"ter), n.
1. That in which any person or thing welters, or wallows; filth; mire; slough.
The foul welter of our so-called religious or other controversies.
Carlyle. 2. A rising or falling, as of waves; as, the welter of the billows; the welter of a tempest.
Welwitschia
(||Wel*witsch"i*a) n. [NL. So named after the discoverer, Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch.] (Bot.)
An African plant (Welwitschia mirabilis) belonging to the order Gnetaceæ. It consists of a short, woody,
topshaped stem, and never more than two leaves, which are the cotyledons enormously developed, and
at length split into diverging segments.
Wem
(Wem) n. [Cf. Womb.] The abdomen; the uterus; the womb. [Obs.]
Wem
(Wem), n. [AS. wam, wamm.] Spot; blemish; harm; hurt. [Obs.] Wyclif.
Withouten wem of you, through foul and fair.
Chaucer. Wem
(Wem), v. t. [AS. wemman.] To stain; to blemish; to harm; to corrupt. [Obs.]
Wemless
(Wem"less), a. Having no wem, or blemish; spotless. [Obs.] "Virgin wemless." Chaucer.
Wen
(Wen) n. [AS. wenn; akin to D. wen, LG. wenne.] (Med.) An indolent, encysted tumor of the
skin; especially, a sebaceous cyst.
