weasel, wesel, wesele, wezill

[A. S. wesle; cogn. with Dutch wezel; Icel. visla; Danish væsel; Sw. ve la; O. H. Ger. visala, wisela; Ger. wiesel. Probably from the same root as WIZEN (q. v.).) I. Literally : 1. Zool .: The genus Put or i us; spec if., Put or i us vulgar is , the Common Weasel. Length about twelve inches, of which the tail occupies nearly a quarter. Body extremely slender and arched, head small and flattened, eyes black and remarkably quick and lively, ears short and rounded; the neck is long, being but little shorter than the trunk and very flexible; tail short, and without a terminal tuft of hair; legs short and furred to end of toes. Upper part light reddish-brown, under surface quite white. It feeds on mice and rats, moles and small birds, and, according to Bell ( British Quadrupeds , p. 183), it would appear that this animal ought rather to be fostered as a destroyer of vermin than extirpated as a noxious depredator. Occasionally the weasel becomes white in winter, though the tail always retains its reddish tinge, as that of the Ermine does its black tip. In this white stage the Weasel is the Mustela nival is of Linnæus. *2. Ornith .: A bird which Browne calls Mustela variegata . Probably the Smew (q. v.); Mergus albellus , the M. mustelaris of Gesner. "Divers other sorts of dive-fowl. the variegated or party-colored weazel , so called from the resemblance it beareth unto a weasel in the head."-Browne: Birds of Norfolk . "They wexed weasy and fatte, as saith the song of Moses." Joye: Expos . of Daniel , ch. iv. weather, *wed-er, *wed-re, *wed-yr, s . & a. [A. S. weder ; cogn. with Dut. weder; Icel. vedhr; Dan. veir ; Sw. väder: O. H. Ger. wetar ; Ger. wetter weather; gewitter =a storm; cf. Icel. land vidhri =aland-wind; heidh - vidhri = bright weather; Lith. wetra =astorın, stormy weather; Ru . vieter ', vietr '=wind, breeze. From the same root as WIND (1), 8.] A. As substantive: I. Ordinary Language: 1. A general term for the atmospheric conditions, or the state of the air, with special reference to the questions of cold or heat, pre ure, dryne , humidity, presence or absence of rain, occurrence of sunshine, or any other meteorological phenomena; as warm weather , dry weather , wet weather , stormy weather , hazy weather , . The science which investigates the causes of these changes of the atmosphere, and attempts to trace them to their origin is called Meteorology (q. v.). "When the wind is thus settled, we have commonly fair weather ."-Dampier: Discourse of Winds , ch. i. In some tropical countries the seasons are so regular that the weather for any particular month may be predicted long beforehand without any considerable liability to error. For instance, it may 1 in Central India there will be only two or three rainy *(1) To make fair weather : To flatter; to con[FAIR-WEATHER, 2.] "I must make fair weather yet awhile." Shakesp., Henry VI., Pt . II ., v. 1. (2) To make good (or bad ) weather : Naut .: To behave well (or ill) in a storm; to ship little (or much) water. weather-anchor, s. Naut .: The anchor lying to windward, by which the ship rides when moored. weather-beaten, a . Beaten by the wind; seasoned by exposure to all sorts of weather. It is probable that weather-beaten should really be weather-bitten (q. v.). In some cases it is undoubtedly a corruption of the latter word: as in Shakesp.: Winter's Tale, v. 2: "Like a weather- bitten conduit."