Wolffia (wolfia)

[NL. (Horkel, 1839), na after N. M. von Wolff (1724-84), a German physician.] A genus of monocotyledonous plants, of the order Lemnaceæ, distinguished from Lem na, the other genus, by one-celled anthers and by the absence of roots. The 12 species are chiefly tropical, occurring in Europe, India, Africa, and America, and extending north into the United States; they are commonly globose, sometimes conical or flattish, with a proliferous base, and produce minute flowers from chinks in the surface, each flower consisting of a single stamen or without any spathe or other envelop. They are known, like Lemna, as duckmeat, and are remarkable for their almost microscopic size, being esteemed the smallest of flowering plants. Wolffianl (wul'fi-an), a. Same as Wolfian1. Wolffian2 (wul'fi-an), a. [ IMG:content-2504.jpg:[blocks in formation] Are wolvish , bloody, starved, and ravenous. Shak ., M. of V., iv. 1. 188. IMG:content-2505.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-2506.png:[blocks in formation] like an extinguisher; its poison is le virulent than that thou . of other species. - Mountain wolf's-bane. See Ranun- culus . wolfsbergite (wulfs'berg-it), n. [Named from Wolfsberg , in the Harz.] Same as chal cost i bite . wolf-scalp (wulf's kalp), n. The skin of a wolf's head, or a piece of it sufficient for identification, exhibited to claim the bounty paid for the killing of a wolf in some parts of the United States. wolf's-claws (wulfs'klâz), n . The common club- mo , Lycopodium clavatum : so called from the claw-like ends of the prostrate branches. wolf's-fist (wülfs'fist), n. [ wulves fist , wulfes fist , a puffball: wulfes , gen. of wulf , wolf; fist , ME. fyst , a breaking of wind: see wolf and fist2 . Cf. Lycoperdon .] A puffball. See Lycoperdon . Gerard. Also woolfist . wolf's-foot (wulfs'fut), n. The club-mo , Ly- copodium : so named by translation of the ge- neric name. wolf's-head (wulfs'hed), n. [ wolves heed ; wolf's , po . of wolf , + head.] 1. The head of a wolf.-21. An outlaw. Tho were his bondemen sory and nothing glad, When Gamelyn her lord wolves - heed was cryed and maad. Tale of Gamelyn , 1. 700. [ wolveskynne ; wolfskin (wulf's kin), n. wolf's , po . of wolf , + skin .] The skin or pelt of a wolf; also, a rug or other article made of this pelt; a wolfrobe. wolf's-milk (wulfs'milk), n. A plant of the ge- nus Euphorbia , particularly E. Helios cop i a , the sun-spurge. The name is supposed to refer to the acrid milky juice of these plants. wolf-spider (wulf'spīder), n. Any spider of the family Lycosidæ , the species of which do not lie in wait, but prowl about after their prey and spring upon it; a tarantula. See Lycosi- dæ , and cuts under tarantula , 1. wolf's-thistlet (wülfs'this"l), n. See thistle. wolf-tooth (wulf'töth), n.; pl. wolf - teeth (-teth). A small supernumerary premolar of the horse, situated in advance of the grinders. There are sometimes four of these teeth, one on each side of each jaw. Many readers may not be aware that blind horses, even in one eye only, will not get a proper summer coat; and the connexion between wolf - teeth and shying is another of many interesting facts. wolf-trap (wulf'trap), n. In her ., a bearing representing a curved bar having a ring fixed to the center of it. Berry . woll, v. An obsolete or dialectal form of will1 . Wollaston doublet. See doublet , 2 ( b ). wollastonite (wol'as-ton-it), n. [Named after W. H. Wollaston (1766-1828), an English scien- tist, the discoverer of the method of working native platinum.] A mineral occurring in tab ular crystals (hence called tabular spar ), also ma ive, cleavable, with fibrous structure. It has a white to yellow or gray color, and a vitreous to pearly cleavage. It is a silicate of calcium (CaSiO3), and be- longs to the pyroxene group. Wollaston prism. The four-sided gla prism of the camera lucid a devised by Wollaston in 1804. See figure under camera lucid a . wolfrobe (wùlf'rōb), n . The skin or pelt of a wolf made into a robe for use in carriages, etc. wolle1, v. See willl . wollet, wollent. Obsolete forms of wool , woolen . kerosene-shale, very rich in oil, found near Wol- longong in New South Wales: it was originally described as a kind of hydrocarbon. wolloper, n. See walloper2 . light-brown areas of the fur present a set of oval or horse- shoe-shaped figures when several skins are sewed toge ther. From its comparatively large and very stout form, together with its special coloration, the wolverene is some- times called skunk -bear.- The Wolverene State, Michi- gan. wolves, n. Plural of wolf . wolves'-thistlet (wülvz'this'l), n. wolvisht (wùl'vish), a. wolfish. wolwardt, adv . See woolward . woman (wum'an), n.; pl. women (wim'en). [ wuman , womman, wumman, wum- mon , altered (with the common change of wi -to wu- , often spelled wo- ) from wimman , wimmon , which stand (with a imilation of fm to mm ) for the earlier wifman , wifmon, wyfman (pl. women , * wumen , wommen , wummen, wimmen , ear- lier wifmen , wyfmen ), wifman , wifmon , later wimman (pl. wifmen , later wimmen ), a woman, lit. 'wife-man, i. e. female person, wif , a woman, female, + man , man, person (mase., but used, like L. homo and Gr. ἀνθρωπος, in the general sense 'person, human being'). The compound wifman is peculiar to AS., but a similar formation appears in the G. weibs- person. It is notable that it was thought ne- ce ary to join wif , a neuter noun, representing a female person, to man , a masc. noun repre- senting either a male or female person, to form a word denoting a female person exclusively. The a imilation of fm to mm occurs likewise in leman , formerly and more prop. spelled lem- man , and in Lammas . The change of initial wi- to wu -occurs also in AS. widu > wudu > E. wood , and the spelling of wu- as wo- or woo- to avoid the cumulation of u's or v's ( wu- , uuu- , vvv-) occurs in wood , wool , etc. The difference of pronunciation between the singular woman and the plural women , though it has come to distinguish the singular from the plural, is entirely accidental; formerly both pronuncia- tions of the first syllable were in use in both numbers. The proper modern spelling of the plural, as now pronounced, would be wimmen ; the spelling women is due to irreg. conformity to the singular woman , which is properly so spelled according to the analogy of wolf , though * woo- man , like * woolf , would be better, as being then in keeping with wool , wood1 .] 1. An adult fe- male of the human race; figuratively, the fe- male sex; human females collectively. See lady , 5. Leode [men] nere thar nane, ne wapmen ne wifmen , bute westize [waste] paedes. Layamon , 1. 1119. That is the Lond of Femynye, where that no man is, but only alle Wommen. Mandeville, Travels, p. 143 Whan the queene vndirstode the a-vow that Gawein hadde made, she was the gladdest woman in the worlde. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 483. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman . Gen. ii. 22. See the hell of having a false woman ! Shak ., M. W. of W., ii. 2. 305. woman Pray, Mr. Never out, hold your tongue for once, if it be po ible; one would think you were a woman in man's cloaths, by your prating. Swift , Polite Conversation, iii. Woman seems to differ from man in mental disposition, chiefly in her greater tenderne and le selfishne ; and this holds good even with savages. Darwin, Descent of Man, II. 311. 2. The qualities which characterize womanhood; tenderne ; gentlene ; also, when used of a man, effeminacy; weakne . But that my eyes Have more of woman in 'em than my heart, I would not weep. Beau , and Fl . , King and No King, iv. 4. 3. A female attendant on a person of rank (used in such a connection as to show the special sense intended). Take it to oon of youre moste secrete woman , and bid hir deliuer it to the firste man that she fyndeth at the i ue of the halle. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 90. Sir Thomas Bullen's daughter The Viscount Rochford - one of her highne ' women . Shak., Hen. VIII., i. 4. 93. Churching of women. See church, v. - Lawful woman. See lawful. - Married Woman's Act, the name under which are known a number of statutes, both in Great Britain and in the United States (dating about 1850 and thereafter), by which the common-law disabilities of married women as to contracts, property, and rights of action have by succe ive steps been nearly all removed.- Old woman's tooth. Same as router - plane (which see, under router ). - Old-woman's tree. See Quiina. - Single woman. See single. - The scarlet woman. See scarlet. - To be tied to a woman's apron-strings. See apron string. - To make an honest woman of. See honest. To play the woman, to give way to tenderne or pity; weep. Wise woman. See wisel.-Woman of the town, a prostitute. - Woman of the world. ( at ) A married woman. See to go to the world, under world. (b) A woman experienced in the ways of the world; a woman engro ed in society or fashionable life. womant (wum'an), v. t. [ This day I should Haue seene my daughter Siluia how she would Haue womand it. Daniel, Hymen's Triumph, iii. 2. 2. To cause to act like a woman; subdue to weakne like a woman. I have felt so many quirks of joy and grief That the first face of neither, on the start, Can woman me unto 't. Shak ., All's Well, iii. 2. 53. 3. To unite to, or accompany by, a woman. I do attend here on the general; And think it no addition, nor my wish, To have him see me woman'd . Shak., Othello, iii. 4. 195. 4. To call (a person) "woman" in an abusive way. She called her another time fat-face, and womaned her most violently. Richardson , Pamela, II. 268. ( Davies .) woman-body (wum'an-bod i), n. A woman: used disparagingly or in self-depreciation. [Scotch.] It was an awkward thing for a woman - body to be stand ing among bundles o' barkened leather her lane. Scott , Heart of Mid-Lothian, x. woman-born (wum'an-born), a. Born of woman. Cowper , Charity, 1. 181. woman-built(wum'an-bilt), a. Built by women. A new-world Babel, woman - built . Tennyson , Prince , iv. womanfully (wum'an-ful-i), adv . [ woman + -ful+-ly2.] Like a woman: a word humorously employed to correspond with manfully . For near fourscore years she fought her fight woman fully . Thackeray , New comes, ii. Anne alone.. stood up by her father womanfully , and put her arm through his. Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xlvi. woman-grown (wum'an-gron), a. Grown to womanhood. Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. woman-guard (wum'an-gärd), n. A guard of IMG:content-2507.png:[blocks in formation]