wraith, warth

[Icel. võrdhr (gen. vardhav) =a guardian, from vardha to guard; cogn. with Eng. ward (q.v.).] An apparition; the ghost of a person appearing before death. ( Scotch.) "She was uncertain if it were the gipsy, or her wraith ." -Scott: Guy Manner ing , ch. x. wrang, pret. of v. [WRING.] wrang, adv ., a., & 8. [WRONG, a.] ( Scotch .) wrăn-gle, v . i. & t . [A frequent. from wring, formed from wrang , pa. t. of A. S. wring an = to pre . Thus the original sense was to keep on pre ing, to urge, and hence, to argue vehemently; cf. Dan. vringle =to twist, to entangle.] A. Intransitive : 1. To dispute or argue angrily and noisily; to quarrel peevishly or noisily; to brawl. "To wrangle about bills for the inclosing of moors." Macaulay : Hist . Eng ., ch. xix. *2. To engage in discu ion and disputation; to argue, to debate; hence formerly in some universities, to dispute publicly; to defend or oppose a thesis by argument. *B. Trans.: To involve in contention, quarrel, or dispute. wrăn-gle, subst. [WRANGLE, v.] An angry and noisy dispute or quarrel; an altercation. "The giving the priest a right to the title, would produce law-suits and wrangles ." -Swift. wrăn-gler, s. [Eng. wrangl ( e ), v.; -er.] *1. One who wrangles or disputes; a debater, a discu er. "I burn to set the imprison'd wranglers free." Cowper: Task, iv., 34. 2. An angry or noisy disputant; a brawler. "Wranglers and yrefull folke should not be iudges ouer the peasible." -Golden Boke , let. 13. *3. An opponent, an adversary. "He hath made a match with such a wrangler, That all the courts of France will be disturb'd With chaces." Shakesp.: Henry V. , i. 2. 4. At Cambridge University, England, the name given to those who are placed in the first cla in the first or elementary portion of the public examination for honors in pure and mixed math emetics, commonly called the Mathematical Tripos, those placed in the second cla being known as Senior Optimes, and those in the third cla as Junior Optimes. Up to and including the year 1882, the student who took absolutely the first place in the Mathematical Tripos used to be termed Senior Wrangler; those who came next to him being second, third, fourth, ., wranglers. Since then the title has been given to the student who takes the first place in part 1. of the Mathematical Tripos. The name is derived from the public disputations, in which candidates for degrees were formerly required to exhibit their powers.