Forms: 3–5 wond, 4–5 wonde, wende, 5 won, 4 waande, 4–6 wande 4 vande, 6 vand), 8–9 dial. wan, 9 Sc. whand, 3– wand. [a. ON. (*vandu-r) vǫnd-r (MSw. vand-er, Sw. vand, Da. vaand, Norw. vona) Goth. wandu-s:—OTeut. *wandu-z (not found in WGer.), prob. f. the root *wend-: *wand- (to turn, wind [see WIND v.], so that the etymological connotation is that of suppleness or flexibility).] A stick or rod. The word has little colloquial currency exc. in Sc. and northern dialects, in which it suggests the notion of suppleness; as a literary word it is usually apprehended (by southern readers) as denoting something rigid. In the Bible of 1611 it occurs only once (Ecclus. xxxiii. 24); the Revised Version (1894), substitutes stick.
1. A straight slender stick. Now Sc. and dial. In Scottish use, chiefly a slender pliant stick cut from a stem or branch of a shrub or young tree.
The early examples occur chiefly in biblical references, where mod. usage follows the Bible of 1611 in substituting rod; applied, e.g., to the ‘rod’ carried by Moses, to Aaron’s ‘rod’ that budded, etc.
c. 1200. Ormin, 16178. Þatt he swa swiþe mikell follc Draf all ut off þe temmple, All att hiss wille wiþþ an wand.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2923. And worpen he ðor wondes dun, fro euerilc ðor crep a dragun.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xi. 43. In þat ark ware Moyses tables,… and Aaron wand, and þe ȝerde of Moyses.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., viii. 247. Moyses.… My Wand he bad, in thi present, I shuld lay downe, and the avyse how it shuld turne to oone serpent.
1587. Harrison, England, I. xviii. 109/2, in Holinshed. If it … be accompted good soile, on which a man may laie a wand ouer night, and on the morrow find it … ouergrowen with grasse.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXXIV. vi. II. 492. [He] made no more adoe, but with a wand or rod that he had in his hand, drew a circle about the king, and compelled him perforce to give him his answere before he stirred his foot without that compasse.
1603. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 487/2. Reddendo unam virgam agrifolii (ane grene holene wand) nomine albe firme.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle (1871), 35. He that desires to breake a bunch of wandes, Must not take all at once into his handes.
1624. Gataker, Transubst., 49. Moses holding a wand in his hand, did cast it from him, and it became a serpent.
1670. Milton, Hist. Brit., IV. 157. Sigebert … they … carried by force out of the Monastery into the Camp; where acting the Monk rather then the Captain, with a single wand in his hand, he was slain with Egric.
fig. c. 1450. Holland, Houlate, 752. Thow seker trone of Salamon, Thow worthy wand of Aaron.
b. As a type of slenderness or straightness.
1508. Dunbar, Gold. Targe, 63. Ane hundreth ladyes … With … mydlis small as wandis.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., II. iii. 23. Now sir, this staffe is my sister: for, looke you, she is as white as a lilly, and as small as a wand.
[1608: see wand-like in 13.]
† c. A light walking-stick, cane. Obs.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Mark vi. 6–9. For he geueth them leaue to vse eche one a wande, and a payre of sandals.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 202. Bringing him into the corne field, and smyting off, with a wand that I helde in my hande, the eares of wheate.
1607. Peele’s Jests (c. 1620), 4. I thank you sir, quoth the barber, so on goes George with him in his green Jerkin, a wand in his hand very pretty.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 294. His spear, to equal which the tallest Pine Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the Mast Of some great Ammiral, were but a wand, He walkt with.
1760–2. Goldsm., Cit. W., xiii. From hence our conductor led us through several dark walks…, talking to himself, and flourishing a wand which he held in his hand.
d. A stick used as a pointer.
1589. [see WANT sb.2 5 b].
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xxviii. Mrs. Jarley … formally invested Nell with a willow wand, long used by herself for pointing out the characters.
2. A young shoot, a slender stem of a shrub or tree, a sapling; a slender branch or twig. Obs. exc. poet. (rare) and dial. † Under the wand: in the greenwood.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1418. Þe pipins war don vnder his [Adam’s] tung, Þar ras o þam thre wandes yong.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1161. At vche wende vnder wande wapped a flone.
c. 1400. Melayne, 1213. Þe Messangere bare a wande Of ane Olefe in his hande.
c. 1400. 26 Pol. Poems, xv. 60. For al þe body beren þay [sc. man’s legs], As a tre þat bereþ wandes.
c. 1440. York Myst., xii. 78. Vpponne þat wande sall springe a floure.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., IV. 537. A toppe of hit [the fig] to sette other a wonde Is holdon best right in Aprilis ende.
1457. Hardyng, Chron., in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1912), Oct., 746. Men chastyse ofte grete courours by hakenayse, And writhe the wande while it is yonge and grene.
c. 1480. Henryson, Town & C. Mouse, iii. Scho tuik in mynde hir sister vponland, And langit … To se quhat lyfe scho had vnder the wand.
1559. in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1565, 390/1. Rungis and wandis of hissill and sauch.
1592. Greene, Disput., 26. They … bent the tree while it was a wand.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. ix. 17. Into a bird it chaung’d, and from him past, Flying from tree to tree, from wand to wand.
1596. Edw. III., V. 143. A Hasle wand amidst a wood of Pynes.
1850. Allingham, Poems, Music-Master, I. xxiv. The heart is new As the green wand fresh budded on a fir.
1919. Blackw. Mag., Nov., 645/1. The stem bends like a hazel wand.
b. as a type of suppleness.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, II. 2472. And with hym brouȝt His slepy ȝerde as plyaunt as a wonde.
c. 1480. Henryson, Age & Youth, 13. His eyne wes hol, his woce wes hace hostand, walowit & wane, waik as ane wand.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), I. 381. Leicht as ane leif, and waldin as ane wand.
3. A young shoot of willow cut to be used in basket-making, wattled buildings, or the like. Also collect. Now Sc. and dial.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1672. First bind it wele wit balk and band, And wind it siþen well wit wand.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 6900. A litil chapell of wandes þai made.
1457. Nottingham Rec., II. 365. Peid to a man for bondyll wandus jd.
1572. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees), I. 375. Cowpe waynes of wandes.
1615. Markham, Country Contentm., I. i. 14. Which seats would bee either boorded, or watled with stakes and small wands on the sides to hold vp the earth from falling.
1724. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), I. 29. Ane auld kist made of wands.
1770. J. Coates’s Coll. Poems, 21. The light machine [the cradle] with decent neatness stands, The jetting sides compos’d of slender wands.
1796. W. Marshall, Planting, I. 187. in Yorkshire, the ‘wands’ are sold by the bundle; but in Glocestershire, where Ozier grounds abound…, the grounds are let … to basket makers.
a. 1803. Lord William, ix. in Scott, Minstr. Scott. Bord., III. 267. Your cage shall be of wiry goud, Whar now it’s but the wand.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc E. Anglia, Wan, a long rod to wave into a wattled hedge.
† 4. A rod, stick or switch for chastisement; also fig. (in religious use) Obs. Also dial. a ‘rod’ or bundle of twigs for flogging.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 5888. Ȝerd ne vond heo preste non þat child uorto bete.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2612. Abram said … Þou chasti hir sco [read þou] has þe wand.
1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 5878. ‘Þe wande,’ he says, ‘of disciplyne smart, Sal chace foly out of þe childes hert.’
c. 1400. 26 Pol. Poems, xxiv. 48. To ȝerde of loue y moste me boun; Lord, me chastice wiþ þat wande.
c. 1400. Cursor M., 29093 (Cotton Galla MS.). Þe first [discipline es] … Als wering of haire and oþer thing … Þat oþer point to vnderstand, Es kneling and beteing with wand.
1549. Compl. Scot., i. 23. Quhiddir that this dolorus afflictione be ane vand of the fadir to correct & chestie the sone be mercy, or [etc.].
1633. Sir A. Johnston (Ld. Wariston), Diary (S.H.S.), I. 46. If I … had humbled myselth unto the Lord whil the wand was above my head, the Lord would haive spaired.
1828. Craven Gloss., Wand, a rod, a collection of twigs, used for correction.
† b. Under the wand: liable to corporal correction. Hence (with influence of sense 6), subject to (the) rule (of a person): = med.L. sub virga. Cf. YARD sb. 4. Sc. Obs.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet, ii. 6. Wide summe sal tu faire speke, and summe gete wid chastiment & haue þam under wand.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 106. The Emperour has mony syndry kynde of peple under his wand.
1575. in Maitl. Cl. Misc., I. 125. Thair is sum brether quhilk ar nocht under the vand of the prouest and bailyeis of the burgh.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., Quon. Attach., xx. Sa lang as her husband was livand, she was vnder his wand and power.
5. A stick or switch for urging on a horse. Obs. exc. dial.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxvi. 122. Þai hase owþer in þaire hand a whippe or a wand.
1529. Lyndesay, Compl., 180. [Thay] nother sparit spurris nor wandis.
1587. Mascall, Govt. Cattle, Of Horses (1596), 189. If your horse chance to tyre on the way, if spurre, and wande will not profit, ye shall put three or foure rounde peble stones into one of his eares.
1607. Puritan, III. v. 81. Ile haue an Hackney-mans wand siluerd ore a purpose for you.
1609. Bible (Douay), Ecclus. xxxiii. 25. Fodder, and wande [so 1611; Coverdale 1535, Geneva 1560 whippe; 1894 R. V. stick; Gr. ῤάβδος. Vulg. virga], and burden for an asse.
† 6. A scepter. Obs.
a. 1300. [see KING sb. 14].
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 909. Rohand he ȝaf þe wand And bad him sitt him bi.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, lxxx. 62. He had in his hand a golden wand of þe kynges.
a. 1500. Lancelot, 1891. For he [God] forsuth haith ifyne hyme the wond To Iustefy and Reull in pece his lond.
7. A rod or staff borne as a sign of office; esp. a tall slender rod of white wood, sometimes of ebony or silver, carried erect by an officer of the royal household or of a court of justice, by a verger or beadle, or by an official whose duty it is to walk before a judge or other high dignitary on occasions of ceremony.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 1327. That day in stede of a white wonde A staf he bare thoo in his honde.
c. 1472. B. N. C. (Oxf.) Munim., Coldenorton, Bdl. G. 18. A won of the bullard of the place.
14[?]. Sir Beues, 3243 (Pynson). Delyuer me thy wande, For Guy, his fader, was my marchal, And so syr Beuys, hys son, shal!
1573. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 200. Poles and Wandes for the Lictors.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., I. ii. 28. Me thought this staffe mine Office-badge in Court Was broke in twaine And on the peeces of the broken Wand Were plac’d [etc.].
1598. Drayton, Heroical Ep., xiii. (Elinor Cobham to Dk. Humfrey), 62. Do shamefull penance,… Rong with a bell, a Taper in my hand, Bare-foot to trudge, before a Beedles wand.
1610. in J. Davidson, Inverurie, vi. (1878), 194. Comperit Patrick Leslie, John Johnston,… bailzies, and freely dischargit thame of their offices of bailzies, and jurisdiction thereof, be deliverance of the wand in the hands of the clerk and consall.
a. 1618. Ralegh, Prerog. Parl., 19. What say you to the Parliaments of the White Wands in the three and thirtieth yeere of the King?
1713. Swift, Faggot, Wks. 1755, IV. I. 8. Stewards … who in solemn sort Appear with slender wands at court.
1728. Young, Love Fame, I. 207. Some lords it bids admire their wands so white, Which bloom, like Aaron’s, to their ravish’d sight.
1776. Pennsylvania Even. Post, 9 April, 178/2. His Excellency General Washington, the other General Officers and their sutes,… met in the Council Chamber, from whence, preceded by the Sheriff with his Wand, they repaired to the Old Brick Meeting House.
1789. Belsham, Ess., I. xiv. 259. A ribband, a title, or a white wand, have been as eagerly pursued … as knowledge, virtue, and everlasting happiness.
1805. Southey, Madoc, I. xiii. 97. On either hand Three Monks uphold above, on silver wands, The purple pall.
1835. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Publ. Dinners. Up rise the visitors, in march fourteen stewards, each with a long wand in his hand, like the evil genius in a pantomime. Ibid. (1853), Bleak Ho., xix. There is only one Judge in town…. If the country folks of those assize towns on his circuit could see him now! No full-bottomed wig, no red petticoats, no fur, no javelin-men, no white wands.
1868. Morris, Earthly Par. (1870), I. I. 5. And in their hands Long carven silver-banded ebony wands.
fig. a. 1894. Stevenson, In South Seas, I. vi. (1900), 46. Our chief … was always called … Taipi-kikino; and yet that was not his name, but only the wand of his false position.
b. Applied to the caduceus of Hermes or Mercury.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 1736. He [Mercury] helde a yerde in his ryght honde, That so mervelous a wonde was neuer sen.
1645. Stapylton, trans. Musæus, B 3 b. Brought to your service by his golden dart, As rough Alcides by the golden wand Of Hermes, to the Lydian Maid’s command.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, IV. 355. But first he [Hermes] grasps within his awful Hand The mark of Sov’raign Pow’r, his Magick Wand.
1790. Cowper, Odyss., X. 337. A God Met me, the bearer of the golden wand, Hermes.
7. A staff or baton serving as a symbol in certain legal transactions.
c. 1420. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xii. 1963. Þis Iohun þan tuk vp a qwyt wande, And gaf vp in þis Edwardis hande Off þis Kynrik al þe richt Þat he had.
1875. Maine, Hist. Inst., ix. 251. The wand which the claimant held in his hand is stated by Gaius to have represented a spear.
† b. Scots Law. Wand of Peace: a silver-tipped baton delivered to an outlaw in token of his restoration to the king’s peace; also carried by a king’s messenger as the symbol of his office, and broken by him (by way of protest) if he was resisted in the execution of his duty.
1511. Reg. Privy Seal Scot., I. 355/2. With power to the schireffis … to relesch him fra the horne and deliver him the wand of pece, etc.
1564–5. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 311. Restoir him to oure Soverane Ladiis peace, and gif to him the wand thairof.
1672. Rec. Justiciary Court Edinb. (S.H.S.), II. 76. He and other persons lybelled, beat and wounded the Messenger after he had laid hold upon the said Hary and touched him with his wand of peace several times.
1678. Sir G. Mackenzie, Crim. Laws Scot., I. xxvi. § iii. (1699), 130. The Wand of Peace is that whereby they touch a Rebel, and declares him to be their Prisoner, and when they are deforced, they use to break the wand of Peace.
1815. Scott, Antiq., III. xiii. 275. If you interrupt me in my duty, I will break the wand of peace, and declare myself deforced. Ibid. (1815), Guy M., III. vii. 135. Here, where I brake the wand of peace ower him.
† 8. A measuring rod. (Cf. METEWAND, YARD-WAND, ELL-WAND.) Also Mining, a measure of 8 feet. Obs.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Underwoods, xlii. (1640), 193. Guided by experience, whose straite wand Doth meet, whose lyne doth sound the depth of things.
1670. Pettus, Fodinæ Reg., 86. And a Meer shall contain in length 10 wands and 7 feet, that is to say 87 feet.
c. 1730. Ramsay, Maltman, ii. (1877), II. 204. Maltmon come for siller, And gaugers with wands o’er soon.
1829. Scott, Anne of G., iii. Your … sentiments … rather belong to the sword than the measuring wand.
† b. A measure of land; ? a VIRGATE. Obs.
1596. Yorksh. Deeds (Yorksh. Arch. Soc., Rec. Ser.), II. 191. [Two] wandes [of meadow] in the Northe Inges.
1684. Rector’s Bk., Clayworth (1910), 67. Meadow in Easting 5 Wands, Arable 11/2 Ac.
† 9. Anat. The smaller bone of the forearm, the radius: ELL-WAND 2. Obs.
1634. T. Johnson, Parey’s Wks., VI. xxvi. (1678), 147. The cubit is composed of two bones, the one of which we call the Radius, or Wand.
10. A magic rod; the staff used in enchantments by a fairy or a magician. Now the most prominent sense. Cf. F. baguette. Also fig.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 57. On hiȝt in his a hand haldis a wand And kenely be coniurisons callis to him spritis.
c. 1480. Henryson, Test. Cresseid, 311. This dulefule sentence Saturne tuik on hand,… And on hir heid he laid ane frostie wand.
1610. G. Fletcher, Christ’s Vict., II. lviii. A Silver wande the sorceresse did sway.
1634. Milton, Comus, 659. Comus. Nay Lady sit; if I but wave this wand, Your nerves are all chain’d up in Alabaster.
1667. Dryden, Ind. Emp., II. i. High-Priest … Once, twice, and thrice, I wave my Sacred Wand, Ascend, ascend, ascend at my command. [An earthly Spirit rises.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IX. 2174. Sleep’s dewy wand Has strok’d my drooping lids, and promises My long arrear of rest.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, i. if I creep near yonder oak she will wave her fairy wand.
1798. Wordsw., P. Bell, Prol. 146. A potent wand doth Sorrow wield.
1849. W. Irving, Goldsmith, xlv. (1850), 422. His pen is a wand of power in his hand.
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxxvi. If a good fairy had built the house for me with a wave of her wand, I could not have been more considered in it.
1914. Georges Chatterton-Hill, in 19th Cent., Feb., 262. Such a view, attributing as it does magical powers to the wand of the legislator, is in absolute contradiction with facts.
b. transf. Electric wand: see quot.
1898. Sloane, Electr. Dict. (ed. 2), 627. Torch, Electric Gas Lighting, a portable apparatus for producing a spark for gas lighting…. Synonym—Electric Wand.
11. A fishing-rod. Now chiefly Sc.
1565. Sir W. Cecil, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. II. 296. I dowt not but though yow shall be farr off, yow will use a long anglyng wand to catch some knoledg.
1839. T. T. Stoddart, Songs & P., 13. To all wights of the wand Welcome are ye!
1895. ‘Cotswold Isys,’ Lyra Piscat., 102.
| And under the shade of the beechen boughs, | |
| I deftly ply my wand. |
1913. N. Munro, New Road, xx. He made a fire, and cut a wand, and dropped a maggot in a pool and caught two little fishes.
12. attrib. and Comb., as wandlike adj. and adv.; with the sense ‘made of wicker-work’ (Sc.) as in wand-basket, -bed, -cage, -chair; in sense 10, as wand-smitten, -stricken. Also wand-bearer, one who carries a wand in a procession or otherwise as a sign of office; spec. as the title of certain honorary lay officials of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; † wand-bone (wan beyn) Sc. = sense 9; † wand-church (-kirk), cf. WANDED a. 1 b; † wandclot dial. (meaning obscure); † wand-hand Sc., the hand that holds the wand or whip; wand-weaver dial., a basket-maker.
1694. Sir J. Foulis, Acc. Bk. (S.H.S.), 165. For 2 *wand baskits, 1 1 0.
1840. Cockton, Val. Vox, xv. Two *wand-bearers started off immediately for the men who were elsewhere engaged in the museum.
1872. H. P. Liddon, in J. O. Johnston, Life & Lett. (1904), vii. 168. Thanksgiving Day…. Mr. Foster, John and Mr. G. A. Spottiswoode, as wand-bearers, were present. We all got into church at 9.30.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 422. He has been a true mystic and not a mere routineer or wand-bearer.
a. 1670. Spalding, Troub. Chas. I. (Bannatyne Club), II. 297. The young laird lying sore seik also … was transportit in ane *wandbed … fra the tolbuith to the castell.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, XI. 123. On the *wan bayn with gret ire can him ta, Cleyffyt the cost rycht cruelly in twa.
1828. Moir, Mansie Wauch, i. 10. A blackbird … hung above his head in a *whand-cage of my faither’s making.
1680. Sir J. Foulis, Acc. Bk. (S.H.S.), 40. To mrs urqrt to buy a bairns *wand-chair, 2 18 0.
1685. G. Sinclair, Satan’s Invis. World, 98. The Maid did start up out of a Wand-Chair, where she sat.
1898. N. Munro, John Splendid, xv. ‘It’s your welcome, Argile,’ said I, putting a wand chair to the front for him.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 6125. A kirke … *wand kirke was called beforne.
1397. Priory of Finchale (Surtees), p. cxviii. Item ij *wand-clots et j stapyll.
1637. Rutherford, Lett. to R. Stuart, 17 June. The devil and temptations now have the advantage of the brae of you, and are upon your *wand-hand and your working hand.
1684. J. Renwick, Serm. (1776), 54. There is no land or church that is likely to get the wand-hand, so to speak, of Scotland.
1608. Shaks., Per., V. i. 110. Such a one my daughter might haue beene: My Queenes square browes; her stature to an inch, as *wandlike-straight.
1793. Martyn, Lang. Bot., Virgatus … caulis, a rod-like or wand like stem or branch.
1834. M. Scott, Cruise Midge, ii. The wand-like tops of the polacre’s tall masts.
1847. Darlington, Amer. Weeds, etc. (1860), 433. Virgate, wand-like; long, slender, and straight.
1859. Meredith, R. Feverel, xxii. Know you those wand-like touches of I know not what, before which our grosser being melts.
1897. H. N. Howard, Footsteps Proserpine, 41. As from the nebulous elemental sea, *Wand-smitten by the Eternal Mind, Earth rose.
1847. Mary Howitt, Ballads, 267. Like that old mystery Of the *wand-stricken rock.
1896. Leeds Mercury Suppl., 12 Sept. (E.D.D.). His two uncles, by trade *wand-weavers.
