wagoner, waggoner

[Eng.wagon; -er.] I. Ordinary Language: 1. One who drives or leads a wagon; a wagon driver. "The wagoners drove off at full speed." -Macaulay: Hist . Eng ., ch. v. *2. A charioteer. "Stab them, or tear them on thy chariot-wheels; And then I'll come, and be thy waggoner .' Shakesp .: Titus Andronicus , v. 2. 3. A constellation, Charles' Wain. [URSA MA JOR.] "By this, the Northern wagoner had set His seuenfold teme behind the stedfast star." Spenser: F. Q., I. ii. 1. II. Astron .: (1) The constellation Auriga; (2) the constellation Bootes (q. v.). *wag-on-e , *wăg'-gon-ě , s. [Eng. wagon ; -e .] A female wagoner, driver, or charioteer. (An improper formation.) "Her waggone was she that paints the air." Chapman : Homer's Iliad, v. 348. wag-on-ette', wag-gon-ětte', subst . [A dim in. from wagon (q. v.). IMG:content-0607.png:[graphic][merged small] Vehicles : A kind of four-wheeled pleasure-carriage of light construction. "There was a large wagonette of varnished oak."Black: Prince of Thule , ch. i. *wag-on-ry, *wăg'-gòn-ry, s . [Eng. wagon ; ry] Conveyance by means of wagons; wagons collectively. "This unlawful waggonry wherein it rides."-Milton: Of Church Government , bk. i., ch. i. *wag'-pās-tie, s. [Eng. wag , v., and pasty .] A rogue, an urchin. "With a little wagpastie A deceiver of follies by subtill craft and guile." Udall : Roister Doister , iii. 2. wag'-tāil, s. [Eng.wag, v., and tail.] 1. Lit. & Ornith .: A popular name for any species of the genus Motacilla, called more fully Water Wagtail. They are active, graceful birds, of sober plumage, black, white, and gray being the prevailing colors. They frequent gra -plots, the edges of ponds, and the sandy banks of rivers, in search of their insect food, and may be readily known by their restle activity and ceasele motion of their tails, whence their scientific and popular name. [MOTACILLA, WATER-WAGTAIL.] *2. Fig .: A pert person. "Spare me my gray beard, you wytail ." wagtail-fantail, s. Shakesp Lear , ii. 2. Ornith.: Rhipidura motacilloides , an Australian bird, about five inches long, and closely resembling the Pied Wagtail ( Motacilla lugubris ) , whence the popular and specific names. *wag'-tail, *wag-tayl, v. i. [English wag , and tail.] To flutter. "From bush to bush, wagtayling here and there." Sylvester: The Trophies, p. 137. marine; gō, pět, wah wâh, whâ, s. [See extract.] Zool.: Ailurus fulgens. [PANDA.] "It is frequently discovered by its loud cry or call, resembling the word wha , often repeating the same. Hence is derived one of the local names by which it is tnown." Eng . Cyclop. ( Nat . Hist . ), iv. 186. Wa-ha-bi, Wa-ha-bee, s. [Named after AbdulWahhab = the servant of Him who gives everything.] Mohammedanism ( pl .): A sect founded by Abdul Wahhab, born toward the end of the seventeenth century, near Der'aiyeh, the capital of Nejd, in Arabia. During the Saracen period the Mohammedan sacred places were in Arab custody. When the Saracen was succeeded by the Turkish power they pa ed over into Turkish keeping. It is obligatory on every Mu ulman who can afford the ex pense, to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his life. The Arabs were greatly scandalized by the moral laxity of some of the pilgrims, and it became painfully apparent that even the best of them had largely departed from the purity of the faith, according divine honors to Mohammed, elevating tradition to the same level as revealed scripture, and quietly ignoring any precept of the Koran which required self-denial for its performance. Abdul Wahhab felt it a duty to make a determined effort to restore Mohammedanism to its pristine purity, and the most earnest Moslems gradually became his followers. Converting to his views Mohammed Ibu Saud, the powerful Sheikh of Der'aiyeh, whose daughter he married, he induced his father-in-law to draw the sword for the establishment of a pure Mohammedan theocracy. The Bedouins flocked to his standard; the towns of Arabia, le inclined to adopt the new faith, had to be conquered. The Pasha of Bagdad, A. D. 1748 and 1749, somewhat retarded, but did not permanently arrest their progre . In A. D. 1765 (1172 of the Hegira) the father-in-law died, and on June 14, 1787 (Α. Η. 1206), the revivalist or reformer. The former was succeeded by his son, Abdul-Aziz. In 1797 the Wahabees pillaged the town and tomb of Husein; in 1803 they captured Mecca, and in 1804 Medina, where they plundered the tomb of Mohammed himself. By this time Abdul-Aziz had been succeeded by his son Saud, by whose orders the Khootba (public prayer) was no longer allowed to be offered in the name of the Sultan. With the exception of the territory subject to the Imam of Muscat, all Arabia now submitted to the Wahabees. They also captured some Arabic towns on the coast of Persia, and Wahabee pirates infested the Persian Gulf. In 1809 these pirates were severely pun ished by the British, in conjunction with the Imam of Muscat. The same year Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, prepared to attack them. In 1812 he took Medina, and in 1813 Mecca. In 1816 Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Mehemet Ali, a umed the command of the Egyptian troops, and, entering Arabia, took Der'aiyeh in 1818, and capturing Abdullah, son and succe or of Saud, sent him to Constantinople, where he was beheaded. In 1827, 1834, 1838, and 1839 the Wahabees attempted to excite insurrections, and required continual vigilance from Egypt. In 1862 and 1863 Palgrave found them numerous in Arabia. The Wahabee movement is not now confined to Arabia; it has spread throughout the Mohammedan world, and though quiescent at present, still po e es vigorous life, and will doubtle again from time to time break forth. Many adherents of the sect are believed to exist in India, Patna being considered one of their strongholds. Wa-ha-bi-ism, Wa-ha-bee-ism, s. [English Wahabi , Wahabee; -ism.] The doctrines, principles and practices of the Wahabis. *wah-len-ber'-gi-a (or wasv), s. [Named after George Wahlenberg, M. D., author of the Flora of Japan .] Bot .: An old genus of Campanulacese, reduced by Sir J. Hooker to a sub-genus of Campanula. Wah lenbergia hederacea is now Campanula hederacea . The flowers of W. gram in i flora are used by the mountaineers of Southern Europe for epilepsy, and W. linarioides in Chili for pains in the bowels. wâ hôo, s. [American Indian.] A name given to several trees of the elm family; specifically, ulmus alata. *waid, pa . par . ora. [WEIGH.]