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ter, as for protection or shelter; as, to winter-ground the roods of a plant. The ruddock would . . . bring thee all this, Yea, and furred moss besides, when flowers are none To winter-ground thy corse. Shak.

One who makes undue pretensions to wisdom; a would-be-wise person; hence, in contempt, a simpleton; a dunce.

To desire; to long for; to hanker after; to have a mind or disposition toward. I would not wish Any companion in the world but you. Shak. I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper. 3. John 2.

s happening, or immediate succession or consequence. With that she told me . . . that she would hide no truth from me. Sir P. Sidney. With her they flourished, and with her they die. Pope. With this he pointed to his face. Dryden.

Wretched; paltry; miserable; poor. What woeful stuff this madrigal would be! Pope.

imp. of Will. See Would.

tion; to query in the mind; as, he wondered why they came. I wonder, in my soul, What you would ask me, that I should deny. Shak.

furniture left alone in its wonted corner. Sir W. Scott. She was wonted to the place, and would not remove. L'Estrange.

Fig.: A simpleton. [Obs.] If I loved you not, I would laugh at you, and see you Run your neck into the noose, and cry, "A woodcock!" Beau. & Fl. Little woodcock. (a) The common American snipe. (b) The European snipe. -- Sea woodcock fish, the bellows fish. -- Woodcock owl, the short-eared owl (Asio brachyotus). -- W…

is only fit to stay at home and stir porridge. "We submit that a wooden spoon of our day would not be justified in calling Galileo and Napier blockheads because they never heard of the differential calculus." Macaulay. (b) In some American colleges, the lowest appointee of the junior year; sometimes, one especially po…

in the world, all that exists; all that is possible; as, all the precaution in the world would not save him. -- A world to see, a wonder to see; something admirable or surprising to see. [Obs.] O, you are novices; 't is a world to see How tame, when men and women are alone, A meacock wretch can make the curstest shre…

tions, like a worm; to squirm; to twist uneasily or quickly about. Both he and successors would often wriggle in their seats, as long as the cushion lasted. Swift.

anner; unjustly; erroneously; wrong; amiss; as, he judges wrongly of my motives. "And yet wouldst wrongly win." Shak.

to deviate from her course, as when struck by a heavy sea; -- said of a ship. Just as he would lay the ship's course, all yawing being out of the question. Lowell.

welcome heartily. Chaucer. But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified. 1 Cor. vi. 11. This would cost you your life in case ye were a man. Udall.

To pain; to grieve; to vex. [Obs.] "She laments, sir, for it, that it would yearn your heart to see it." Shak. It yearns me not if men my garments wear. Shak.

a yelping kennel of French curs Shak. At the least flourish of a broomstick or ladle, he would fly to the door with a yelping precipitation. W. Irving.

, from childhood, or, sometimes, from infancy, to manhood. He wondered that your lordship Would suffer him to spend his youth at home. Shak. Those who pass their youth in vice are justly condemned to spend their age in folly. Rambler.