Obs. exc. dial. Also (1 wæð), 5 wadth, wat(t)he, 6 erron. warthe, 6– erron. warth. [a. ON. vað neut. (MSw. vaþ, Sw., Da. vad) = OE. wæd (pl. wado), poet. the sea, the waves, MLG. wat (wad-), Du. wad, OHG. wat:—OTeut. *waðo-m:—pre-Teut. *wadho-m = L. vadum; cogn. w. WADE v.] A ford; a fordable stream.
In quot. c. 1100 used as the proper name of the river Forth.
[c. 1100. O. E. Chron. (MS. D.), an. 1073. Wyllelm … þæt land on þa sæ healfe mid scypum ymb læiʓ & him sylf mid his landfyrde ferde inn ofer þæt Wæð (Laud MS. þæt ʓewæd)].
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 5757. Þe watir þat time was farr ebband:… But or he was þe wath all past, The wawes come agayne him fast.
c. 1475. Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 799/41. Hoc vadum, a wadth.
1483. Cath. Angl., 410/1. A wathe, vadum, flustrum.
1570. Levins, Manip., 38/40. A watthe, foorde, vadum.
1583. Inquis. Sewers Linc. (1851), 12. That the Township of Burringham in making their warthes or fordes over the aforesaid dytches do not cast in more sand then is needful for passage of their cattell into the Northmoores.
1610. in N. Riding Rec. (1884), I. 204. Forasmuch as Skipton bridge … is likely to … become ruinous by … carriages of great burthen,… a ford or wath is there made passable for such purposes.
1674. Ray, N. C. Words, s.v., A Warth; a Waterford. Ibid. (1691), Gloss. Northanhymb., s.v., A Wath. Vadum.
1697. De la Pryme, Diary (Surtees), 153. From thence I went over a wath, which tradition says was formerly a great river.
1730. P. Walkden, Diary, 4 May (1866), 115. Then came over a corner of Ellhill moor as direct as I could to Wire and over it at a warth.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Gloss., Wath, warth, a water-ford.
1890. R. S. Ferguson, Hist. Cumbld., 270. They tried to evade that fortress by taking to the waths over Eden, between Carlisle and the sea.
1894. Carlisle Patriot, 15 June, 7/3 (Cumbld. Gloss.). The new bridge over the Kingwater will stand on the site of the wall at the place of the ford or wath.
b. Comb., as wath gate (GATE sb.2), mouth, way. Also WATHSTEAD.
1662. Dugdale, Imbanking & Drayning, 201/1. That the Prior of Haverholme ought to find a certain boat at the Bothe, neer to the Wathe mouthe, for to carry over foot-folk, aswell by night as day.
1876. Whitby Gloss., s.v., ‘Wathgeeat,’ the direction of the ford.
1905. Eng. Dial. Dict., s.v., Wath-way, a ford. (East Lincolnshire.)
