Scott: Lady of the Lake

15. pine, pit, sire, sir, marine; gō, pot, wig-block, s. A block or shaped piece of wood, wig-le , a. [Eng. wig ; -le .] Without a wig; for fitting wigs on. wig-tree, s . wig-an, s. (Prob. from the town of Wigan , in Lancashire. An open, canvas-like fabric, used as a stiffening in the lower ends of the legs of pant a- loons, and as a skirt-protector on the lower inside surface which drags on the pavement. It is some- times sold in strips, fluted, and attached to a band. wigeon, widg-eon, s . [Probably French; cf. O. Fr. vigion, vingeon, ginge on Fr. canard siffleur =the wigeon.] [WHEW-DUCK.] 1. Ornith.: Any species or individual of the genus Mareca (q. v.), spec if., Mareca penelope . Length about eighteen inches; the male has the forehead and top of head white, cheeks and hind part of the neck reddish-chestnut, upper parts grayish white, irregularly zigzagged with black; wing-coverts white tipped with black, primaries dark brown, speculum green, edged with black; throat rufous, breast and belly white; the female has sober plum- age of various shades of brown. The wigeon is one of the commonest ducks of the extreme north of Europe, frequenting gra y swamps, lakes, and rivers, and feeding in the daytime, chiefly on IMG:content-0894.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-0895.png:[blocks in formation] american a ) is larger than the European or Com- mon Wigeon, and has the upper parts finely waved transversely with black and reddish-brown, top of head and under parts white. It breeds chiefly in the northern parts of America and is common in winter on the coasts of the United States and in the rice fields. The flesh of both species is esteemed for the table. *2. Fig .: (From the wigeon being supposed to be a foolish bird.) A fool, a silly fellow. [GOOSE.] "The apostles of their fierce religion, Like Mahomet's, were a and wigeon ." Butler: Hudibras , I. i. 231. wigged, a . [Eng. wig ; -ed.] Having the head covered with a wig; wearing a wig, bewigged. *wig-ger-ỹ, s. [Eng. wig ; -ery.] Trollope: Last Chronicle of Barset , ch. xxiv. 2. Empty formality; red-tapeism. "Amid such mountain of wiggeries and folly."-Car- lyle : Past and Present , bk. ii., ch. xvii. wig-ging, 8. [WIG, v.] A rating, a scolding, a rebuke, especially one given in public. ( Slang .) wig-gle, v . i. [See def.] To wriggle. ( Prov .) *wigher, v . i. [Etym. doubtful.] To neigh, to whinny. ( Beaum . & Flet ., in Ann andale .) wight (1), ( gh silent), *wyght, *wyht, s. [A. S. wiht , wuht , wyht =a creature, an animal, a person, a thing; cogn. with Dut.wicht a child; Icel. vættr a wight; vætta =a whit; Dan. vætte =an elf; Ger. wicht ; Goth. waihts (fem.), waiht (neut.)=a whit, a thing. Wight and whit are doublets.] 2. A human being, a creature, a person, either male or female. "No living wight could work, ne cared even for play." Thomson: Castle of Indolence , i. 2. *3. A moment, an instant, a portion of time. *wight (2), s. [WEIGHT.] *wight, *wyght ( gh silent), a. [Icel. vigr =in fighting condition, serviceable for war. from vig = war, vega to fight; A. S. wig =war; Sw.vig=nim- ble, agile, active; vigt =nimbly; A. S. wiglic =war- like.] Bot .: A genus of Chelonese. Only known species, Wightia to mentos a , an immense tree, clinging by means of aerial roots to the stems on which it is a parasite, and rising into the air with ma es of pink flowers. It is found in the forests of Sikkim and Bhootan, in the zone from three to seven thou sand feet in elevation, and is used for making Bud. dhist idols. ( Calcutta Exhib . Rep . ) *wight-lý ( gh silent), adv . [Eng. wight , a.; -ly.] 1. Stoutly; with strength, power, or prowe . 2. Nimbly, actively, quickly. Spenser: Shepherd's Calendar; September. bench; go, gem; thin, this; IMG:content-0896.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-0897.png:[blocks in formation] fur gray, inclining to yellow on the face, and nearly white on the belly; black band on back from which transverse dark gray bands proceed, fading as they reach the under surface; tail thick, ringed with gray and black. Wild cats are exceedingly savage, and if wounded will attack man. They breed freely with the domestic species. 2. Fig .: Any busine enterprise of an uncertain or unreliable nature. Specif. a swindling or untrustworthy insurance or banking company. The name was applied in the days when there was no national banking system in this country, and when credit was a franchise, and almost every man could put upon the market his individual promise to pay and have it received as currency. "Banks" sprang up like mushrooms, and in many instances the alleged locality of the bank as it appeared on some of these notes was mythical. The name "wild-cat" was first applied to the notes of the state banks of Mich igan, afterward notoriously unsound, for the reason that up on the face of these notes was printed a panther. When these notes were found worth le they became the type of a worthle currency, and all money and banks of that qualconsequently called wild-cat. From banks the term has extended to other lines of busine , particularly to the insurance busine . IMG:content-0898.png:[blocks in formation] wild-a , s. 1. Zool .: The popular name of three species of the genus Equus: Equus hemionus , the Kiang or Djiggetai (q. v.); E. onager [ONAGER, 2], and E. hemip pus , nearly akin to the second form, of which per haps it is only a variety. They are characteristic of the deserts of the Pale arctic region from North Africa and Syria to Western India, Mongolia, and Manchuria. They are all larger than the Domestic A ( Equus asinus ), which they greatly excel in speed. 2. Script.: (1) Heb. arodh , Job xxxix. 5; Dan. v. 21. It seems correctly translated both in the A. V. and R. V. It is from aradh to flee, in Syriac and Ethiopic to be indomitable. (2) perē , Job vi. 5, xi. 12, xxiv. 5 xxxix. 5, 6. From para =to run quickly. This may be the same animal as No. 1, or may be the Djiggetai. IMG:content-0899.png:[blocks in formation] "The amount of insurance carried was $7,000, and the names of the companies caused considerable amusement on La Salle street, for, with the exception of one or two well-known wild cats , the list was not recognized by men who have been in the insurance busine a quarter of a century." Chicago Tribune , Sept. 5, 1894. wild-celery, 8. [APIUM.] wild-chamomile, s. Bot.: Matric aria chamomilla. [MATRIC ARIA.] wild-cherry, 8. ec. Bot.: The fruit of various species of Prunus, spec. in Europe Prunus Cerasus , sub-species Avium , the Gean, and in America P. virgin i an a , P. pennsylvanica and P. serotina . The first and third have racemose flowers, the third has peduncles sub-umbellate or solitary, the first has black, and the second and third have red drupes. IMG:content-0900.png:[blocks in formation] wild-duck, s. Byron: The Giaour. Ornith.: Anas bosk as († boschas ), widely distributed in temperate and arctic regions, known as a bird of pa age. Length of male about twenty-four inches; head and neck rich shining green, collar pure white; back chestnut-brown, deepening into black on upper tail coverts; four central tail-feathers velvety-black and curled, the rest ashen gray, edged with white; greater wing coverts with bold white bar, and tipped with velvet-black; wings purple, white, and velvet-black; upper part of breast dark chestnut, rest of undersurface grayish-white, penciled under wings with dark gray lines. Female somewhat smaller; plumage various shades of brown. The wild duck is the stock whence all the breeds of the domesticated duck have sprung. It pairs when free, but becomes polygamous on domes tication.