whether ing

[Etym. doubtful.] The retention of the after-birth in cows. whet-Ile, s. [See def.] Ornith.: A woodpecker (q. v.). and in others a 'Woodwale,'-two words which seem to "In some counties a Woodpecker is called a 'Whetile,' have the same derivation. The first has been supposed to be merely a corruption of whittle-a knife-formerly written 'whytel'; but a still more ancient form of this likely. On the other hand, Woodwale,' or 'Wood wall,' word is 'thwitel, which renders the conjecture very unmay be traced from 'Witwall,' as found in Holly band's Dictionarie -cognate with the Low-Dutch Weedewael , and the Old-German Wittevaal IMG:content-0820.png:[blocks in formation] the second syllable may mean, the first is only wood -in word occurs not unfrequently in old poems."-Yarrell: Brit . Birds (ed. 4th), ii. 461, 462.