Adjacent Words

Wade definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WADE, v.i.
1. To walk through any substance that yields to the feet; as, to wade through water; to wade through sand or snow;. To wade over a river, is to walk through on the bottom. Fowls that wade have long legs.
2. To move or pass with difficulty or labor; as, judges wade through an intriccate law case. it is not my purpose to wade through these controversies.
The kings admirable conduct has waded through all these difficulties.
And wades through fumes and gropes his way.
WADE, v.t.To pass by walking on the bottom; as, to wade a river. [this is a common expression, but elliptical for to wade through a river.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: English tennis player who won many women's singles titles (born in 1945) [syn: Wade, Virginia Wade] v
1: walk (through relatively shallow water); "Can we wade across the river to the other side?"; "Wade the pond"

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (waded; wading) Etymology: Middle English, from Old English wadan; akin to Old High German watan to go, wade, Latin vadere to go Date: 13th century intransitive verb 1. to step in or through a medium (as water) offering more resistance than air 2. to move or proceed with difficulty or labor <wade through the crowd> <wade through all the evidence> 3. to set to work or attack with determination or vigor — used with in or into <wade into a task> transitive verb to pass or cross by wading • wadable or wadeable adjective II. noun Date: 1665 an act of wading <a wade in the brook>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 intr. walk through water or some impeding medium e.g. snow, mud, or sand. 2 intr. make one's way with difficulty or by force. 3 intr. (foll. by through) read (a book etc.) in spite of its dullness etc. 4 intr. (foll. by into) colloq. attack (a person or task) vigorously. 5 tr. ford (a stream etc.) on foot. --n. a spell of wading. Phrases and idioms: wade in colloq. make a vigorous attack or intervention. wading bird any long-legged water-bird that wades. Derivatives: wadable adj. (also wadeable). Etymology: OE wadan f. Gmc, = go (through)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wade Wade, v. t. To pass or cross by wading; as, he waded ?he rivers and swamps.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wade Wade, n. Woad. [Obs.] --Mortimer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wade Wade, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Waded; p. pr. & vb. n. Wading.] [OE. waden to wade, to go, AS. wadan; akin to OFries. wada, D. waden, OHG. watan, Icel. va?a, Sw. vada, Dan. vade, L. vadere to go, walk, vadum a ford. Cf. Evade, Invade, Pervade, Waddle.] 1. To go; to move forward. [Obs.] When might is joined unto cruelty, Alas, too deep will the venom wade. --Chaucer. Forbear, and wade no further in this speech. --Old Play. 2. To walk in a substance that yields to the feet; to move, sinking at each step, as in water, mud, sand, etc. So eagerly the fiend . . . With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. --Milton. 3. Hence, to move with difficulty or labor; to proceed ?lowly among objects or circumstances that constantly ?inder or embarrass; as, to wade through a dull book. And wades through fumes, and gropes his way. --Dryden. The king's admirable conduct has waded through all these difficulties. --Davenant.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wade Wade, n. The act of wading. [Colloq.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Woad Woad, n. [OE. wod, AS. w[=a]d; akin to D. weede, G. waid, OHG. weit, Dan. vaid, veid, Sw. veide, L. vitrum.] [Written also wad, and wade.] 1. (Bot.) An herbaceous cruciferous plant (Isatis tinctoria). It was formerly cultivated for the blue coloring matter derived from its leaves. 2. A blue dyestuff, or coloring matter, consisting of the powdered and fermented leaves of the Isatis tinctoria. It is now superseded by indigo, but is somewhat used with indigo as a ferment in dyeing. Their bodies . . . painted with woad in sundry figures. --Milton. Wild woad (Bot.), the weld (Reseda luteola). See Weld. Woad mill, a mill grinding and preparing woad.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(wades, wading, waded) 1. If you wade through something that makes it difficult to walk, usually water or mud, you walk through it. Rescuers had to wade across a river to reach them... VERB: V prep/adv 2. To wade through a lot of documents or pieces of information means to spend a lot of time and effort reading them or dealing with them. It has taken a long time to wade through the 'incredible volume' of evidence... VERB: V through n