Wad sb.¹

Also 7 wadd(e, wade. [Of obscure origin; the identity of the word in all the senses is not quite certain.

  With sense 3 cf. mod. Sw. vadd, G., Du. watte, Fr. ouate (whence It. ovatta), wadding; the etymology and mutual relation of these words are unknown.]

  1.  A bundle of hay or straw (occas. of hemp, etc.); esp. a small bundle of hay, peas, beans, vetches, etc., made at the time of cutting or reaping; a portion of a sheaf of cereal plants or of reed. Now dial.

1573.  Twyne, Æneid., XI. 26. Hereon the lad aloft on wad of cuntrey straw they lay.

1596.  Spenser, Hymn Heav. Love, 226. Where he encradled was In simple cratch, wrapt in a wad of hay.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, XVII. ix. I. 508. When it [a crop of lupines] is cut downe, to make it into wads or bottles, and so to burie them at the roots of trees.

1620.  Markham, Farew. Husb., ix. 65. Laying before the Plow long wades or roules of the straw of Lupyns, Pease, or else Fetches… you shall turne the furrowes … vpon the waddes.

1622.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Arrant Thief (1625), C 2. A wispe of Rushes, or a clod of land, Or any wadde of Hay that’s next to hand They’l steale.

1647.  Trapp, Comm. 1 Cor. vii. 31. In the Popes inthronization,… a piece of tow, or wad of straw is set on fire before him, and one appointed to say, Sic transit gloria mundi.

1693.  Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., Dict., To wrap up Plants, or tender Trees with Wads or Wisps of Straw.

1706.  Estcourt, Fair Example, III. i. You shall find her upon a Wad of Straw, with one Brat at her Breast.

1763.  Museum Rust., I. 24. The reapers lay it on the land in wads as they call them, or parcels about the quantity of half a sheaf of wheat unbound.

1799.  Wolcot (P. Pindar), Nil Admirari, III. iii. Wks. 1816, III. 447. At times she finds of hemp a little wad, Begs some young Levite spin it.

1807.  Sir R. C. Hoare, Tour Irel., 302. A wad of straw, or perhaps heath laid on a damp clay floor.

1813.  Vancouver, Agric. Devon, 123. A cylindrical pearl barley machine, is also used to cleanse the wad of its smut.

1886.  W. Somerset Word-bk., Wad, a bundle of straw tied up by a thatcher…. A bundle or reed less than a full shear of 28 lbs. weight is also called a wad.

  fig.  1607.  Heywood, Fayre Mayde Exch., I. C 2 b. Yonder bundle of sighes, yonder wad of grones.

  b.  A heap; also, a swath. dial.

1750.  Ellis, Mod. Husb., IV. iii. 51. [To mow vetches] cock them in little wads as we do the Clover-grass.

1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 589. It is the usual practice to put them [cut pea crops] up into small heaps, termed wads, which are formed by setting small parcels against each other.

1856.  J. C. Morton, Cycl. Agric., II. 726. Wad, a heap of beans or pease laid out to dry, previous to binding. In the county of Devon, applied to a handful of thatch.

1906.  Times, 25 June, 14/4. The wet wads formed by the horse rake are avoided.

  2.  A small bundle of a soft, flexible material; esp. for use as a plug, pad or rubber.

1589.  Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Torche … a wad of strawe or cloutes that wenches vse to put on their heds when they cary any thing.

1622.  Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 355. It was injoyned me … of old ends of Ragges, or of Flax and Tow, to make wads and wisps for those that goe to the Long-house.

1752.  Sir H. Beaumont, Crito, 17. The vast Wad of Linen that they [women] carry upon their Head.

1781.  Hayley, Tri. Temper, IV. 85. She on the types her inky wad let fall.

1861.  Musgrave, By-roads, 173. The neck of the flask being closed with only a mere wad of cotton.

1887.  Poor Nellie (1888), 398. I’ve to go about with wads of cotton-wool ready in my pocket for my two ears.

  b.  Something rolled up tightly, as a roll of bank notes. Chiefly U.S.

1778.  Exmoor Scolding, Gloss. (E. D. S.), 151. A garment rumbled [sic] up to a Wad, with many Plaits and Wrinkles.

1864.  Sala, in Daily Tel., 27 Sept. A little wallet containing one or more dollar bills, or at least a wad of fractional currency.

1888.  Bow-Bells Weekly, 22 June, 396. Never roll gloves into each other in a wad, for they will never look as well after.

1890.  Gunter, Miss Nobody, ii. (1891), 24. Handing Everett a wad of greenbacks.

1899.  Mrs. F. H. Burnett, De Willoughby Claim, x. 132. He … finally rolled his paper into a hard wad and threw it at the counter.

1899.  Crockett, Kit Kennedy, lii. MacWalter pulled a thick wad of bank notes out of his pocket.

1908.  S. E. White, Riverman, xix. Dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief dampened into a tiny wad.

1918.  Wm. G. MacLean, in Miami Herald, 11 April, 4/6.

  transf.  1895.  Howells, Impress. & Exp. (1896), 164. Such a small, dull wad or out-worn womanhood!—her grey old head bent upon her knees, and her withered arms wound in her thin shawl.

1913.  Sat. Rev., 22 March, 365/2. He will find them well padded by wads of extracts from second-hand authorities.

  † 3.  A material composed of matted fibers of silk, raw cotton, etc. = WADDING 3. Obs.

1540.  Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 14. Item for every tonne Tolose wadde accompting viij hole bales … for a tonne xx s.

1695.  P. Motteux, St. Olon’s Morocco, 139. The Traffick of Provence consists in … Velvet, Cottons, Wadds [Fr. cottonines], and other Commodities from the Levant.

1706.  Phillips (ed. Kersey), Wad, a sort of Flocks of Silk, course Flannel, or Cotton.

1761.  Ann. Reg., Chron., 132/1. The plant known by the name of … Asclepias.… From the silky wad it affords we [in France] call it Soyeuse.

  4.  A plug of tow, cloth, etc., a disk of felt or cardboard, to retain the powder and shot in position in charging a gun or cartridge.

1667.  Phil. Trans., II. 476. Another [experiment] … is a Wooden Tampion … hollow’d towards the Bullet,… and … hollow likewise towards the Powder, and serving instead of a Wadd.

1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., V. xii. 68. Put the Powder home gently, and after put in a good Wad…; then put in the Shot…, and after him another Wad.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), Wad, a quantity of old rope-yarns, hay, &c. rolled firmly together into the form of a ball, and used to confine the shot or shell … in the breech of a piece of artillery.

1856.  ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. I. ii. § 5. 24. After using the powder-flask … drive down … a single piece of wadding; then pour in the charge of shot, drive down another wad, [etc.].

1862.  F. A. Griffiths, Artil. Man. (ed. 9), 112. No. 5 serves No. 3 with projectiles, wads, if necessary, and traverses.

1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 194/1. The escape of gas was prevented by means of a felt wad attached to the back of the cartridge.

1881.  Greener, Gun, 300. Wads are punched out of sheets of various materials by cutters fixed in a press. Those most commonly used are made of felts, cardboard, or jute.

1890.  D. Davidson, Mem. Long Life, ii. 34. We … rowed too closely past the Victory as she was firing her royal salate, and one of her wads just cleared our heads.

  5.  A lump of a soft or plastic substance. rare.

1775.  Sheridan, Duenna, III. vii. Eyes like two dead beetles in a wad of brown dough!

1838.  Thackeray, Fashnable Fax, Wks. 1900, XIII. 254. The haldermin, who was helpin the tuttle, puts on Biffeter’s plate a wad of green fat.

  b.  A mass, heap, large quantity. Sc. and north.

1828.  Craven Gloss., Wad, a large quantity. ‘We’ve a wad o’ hay to year.’

1915.  Chamb. Jrnl., 12 June, 442/1. True, we haven’t got a great wad of it on hand; but I don’t like the idea of that silver being on the premises.

  6.  Ceramics.

1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 468. When a sagger is filled with clay ware, on its outer edges are placed thick pieces of coarse clay, called wads from their being employed to wedge or closely join the interstice between two saggers.

1891.  Century Dict., Wad, 3. In ceram., a small piece of finer clay used to cover the body of an inferior material in some varieties of earthenware; especially, the piece doubled over the edge of a vessel.

  7.  attrib. and Comb.: (sense 4) as wad-cutter, gauge, punch, room; wad hook, (a) a spiral tool for withdrawing wads or charges from guns; (b) Mining (see quot. 1881).

1841.  Farmers’ Gaz. (Cheraw, SC), 13 Oct. 1/2. With an instrument called a *wad-cutter, twenty sheets of of paper may be punched at once.

1828.  Spearman, Brit. Gunner (ed. 2), 73. *Wad Gauges.

1611.  Florio, Cauafieno, Gunners call it a *wad-hooke.

1766.  Entick, London, IV. 344. Rammers, hand-spikes, wad-hooks.

1879.  Man. Artill. Exerc., 199. The shell extractor and wadhook [are placed] outside the pit.

1881.  Raymond, Mining Gloss., Wad-hook. A tool with two spiral steel blades for removing fragments from the bottom of deep bore-holes.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wad-punch, a tubular steel punch used for cutting gun-wads, etc.

1756.  Gentl. Mag., XXVI. 426. His gunner concealed 43 barrels of powder in the *wad room, covering them with wads and lumber.