sb. and a. Obs. or arch. Forms: [? 2 waschet] 4 waget(t, vachet, 4–7 wachet(t, 5 waycett, 6 wattchett, watchit, -eth, watchshide, wattshode, wetshode, 6–7 watched, watchett, 7 watcht, wetched, -et, 6– watchet. [App. a. OF. (north-eastern) wachet, occurring A.D. 1420 (une heuke … force de wachet, a cloak lined with ‘watchet’; it is not clear whether this means a particular fabric or a color); an earlier instance, spelt waschet, occurs in quot. 1198 below; the use of the OF. word in an Anglo-Latin context at that date does not prove that it had already been adopted into English. It is possible that waschet, wachet may be a dim. of the word which is found once (spelt wasce) in a Douay document of 1262; Godefr. explains this as ‘sorte d’étoffe,’ but the interpretation is not certain from the context. The Central OF. gasche, recorded once (1448), for some kind of appendage or ornament of a shoe, would correspond formally, but if Godefr. is right in rendering it ‘buckle’ the connection is out of the question.
It is tempting to compare mod. Walloon maiss royal blue (which Diez would connect with OF. guesde WOAD); a dim. formation on a word of this meaning might have been used to denote a lighter shade of the color. But the phonological possibility of such a derivation of wachet is very doubtful.]
A. sb. 1. A light blue color; cloth or garments of this color.
[1198–9. Curia Regis Roll 8 B, m. 2 (P.R.O.). Ei abstulit .I. scapelarium de Waschet.]
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 135. Yclad he was ful smal and proprely Al in a kirtel of a lyght waget [v.rr. wagett, vachet, wachet(t].
1407. Will A. Rymour (Somerset Ho.). Togam meam de Wachett.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Scutulatus, is a colour, I suppose a wachet [1548 watchet].
1551–2. Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI., c. 6 § 23. Clothe or Clothes … of anye other color or colors then … skarlett redd crymsen … asewer watchett [etc.].
1588. Lambarde, Eiren., App. Yy v. Tres vlnas panni lanei, coloris veneti (vocati Anglice Watchet).
1591. Lyly, Endimion, V. ii. Whose teeth shal be so pure a watchet, that they shall staine the truest Turkis.
1601. Holland, Pliny, IX. xxxvi. I. 258. So sullen and melancholie a colour, enclining to a blew or watchet [L. color austerus in glauco]. Ibid. (1610), Camden’s Brit. (1637), 133. The Saxons There in watchet clad, we see [trans. Sidonius Apollinaris: Istic Saxona cærulum videmus].
1616. W. Browne, Brit. Past., II. iii. 392. Here see we watchet deep’ned with a blewe.
1631. Townshend, Albions Triumph, 17. A garment of watchet.
1865. T. Taylor, Ballads & Songs Brittany, 13. What gown … were’t best to wear,—My gown of grain, or of watchet fair?
¶ App. misunderstood. (Jaune garance = madder yellow.)
1530. Palsgr., 287/1. Watchet colour, jaune garance.
2. A fly used by anglers; an artificial fly made to imitate this. Also watchet fly.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, II. 302. Pale or sky-blue watchet. It is a small fly, and appears on the water on a cold day. Ibid., 303. Yellow-watchet. Body, water-rat’s fur, [etc.].
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss., II. 241. Watchet, The name of a fly among Craven anglers, because it is of a watchet colour, or pale blue.
1829. Glover’s Hist. Derby, I. 177. Yellow watchet fly.
B. adj. Light blue, sky-blue.
1496. Nottingham Rec., III. 296. A ȝarde of waycett carssey.
1503. Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. York (1830), 96. x payre of wachet hosyn.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. lv. 216. The flowers … are of a watcheth or pale blowe colour.
1589. Hakluyt, Voy., 282. The mariners being all apparelled in Watchet or skie coloured clothe.
1598. Inventory, in Greg, Henslowe Papers (1907), 121. Item, j wattshode tafitie dublet for a boye.
1604. Marston & Webster, Malcontent, III. i. (2nd Q.), E 2 b. Sea-water greene sutes, ash-color cloakes, wetchet stockings.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 242. Who wonders at the Germans watchet eyes? [L. Caerula quis stupuit Germani lumina?].
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 12. She wore buskins of wetched Silk, deck’d with Silver lace.
1742. Collins, The Manners, 68. Or him whom Seine’s blue nymphs deplore In watchet weeds on Gallia’s shore.
1887. J. Ashby-Sterry, Lazy Minstrel (1892), 186. Watchet eyes As sweet as early summer skies!
1893. J. Davidson, Fleet St. Eclogues, 37. Wood-violets of watchet hue.
b. prefixed to blue as a qualifying term.
1536. Stories & Proph. Scripture, F v. Betwene euery bell a pomegarnade of purpoure,… of russed reade, of wetshode blew and of vermillion.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 49. And the rest of the line of a Watchet blew.
1871. M. Collins, Mrq. & Merch., I. iv. 127. Her hair was a light soft brown, her eyes a watchet blue.
† c. sometimes app. used to denote a green or greenish color.
This meaning is uncertain exc. in quot. 1658.
a. 1613. J. Dennys, Secr. Angling, II. xxii. C 6 b. Marke what a line he hath…. Of Bucephall, or Bayards strongest hayre Twisted with greene or watched silke among.
1635. Swan, Spec. M., v. § 2 (1643), 93. In stead of a blew, [comets are sometimes] of a watchet or greenish colour.
a. 1658. Cleveland, Poems (1659), 161. Tethys in a Gown Of sea-green watchet.
d. Comb., as watchet-colo(u)red, -hued adjs.
1609. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 183. Four yards of watchet coloured ribin.
1764. H. Walpole, Otranto, v. She lies in the watchet-coloured chamber.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xxx. A watchet-coloured silken mantle.
1893. St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 4 Oct., 10/1. Maid Marian in watchet-colored tunic reaching to the ground.
1895. J. Davidson, Fleet St. Eclogues, Ser. II. 25. Convolvuluses … Pallid or watchet-hued.
