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Dull; grave; dark; somber; -- said of colors. "Sad-colored clothes." Walton. Woad, or wade, is used by the dyers to lay the foundation of all sad colors. Mortimer.

The burning of a wad of pease straw at the end of harvest. [Prov. Eng.]

A wading bird with long legs; as, the green-legged shank, or knot; the yellow shank, or tattler; -- called also shanks.

A large African wading bird (Balæniceps rex) allied to the storks and herons, and remarkable for its enormous broad swollen bill. It inhabits the valley of the White Nile. See Illust. (l.) of Beak.

That which clothes, covers, conceals, or protects; a garment. Piers Plowman. Swaddled, as new born, in sable shrouds. Sandys.

Any one of several species of wading birds of the genera Ajaja and Platalea, and allied genera, in which the long bill is broadly expanded and flattened at the tip.

Any one of several species of large wading birds of the family Ciconidæ, having long legs and a long, pointed bill. They are found both in the Old World and in America, and belong to Ciconia and several allied genera. The European white stork (Ciconia alba) is the best known. It commonly makes its nests on the top of a…

against. Ovid stumbled, by some inadvertency, upon Livia in a bath. Dryden. Forth as she waddled in the brake, A gray goose stumbled on a snake. C. Smart.

A genus of wading birds comprising the wood ibises. Tantalus's cup (Physics), a philosophical toy, consisting of a cup, within which is the figure of a man, and within the figure a siphon, the longer arm of which passes down through the bottom of the cup, and allows the escape of any liquid that may be poured in, when…

At that time; then; in those days; -- correlative to nowadays. [R.]

To prate; to talk much and idly; to gabble; to chatter; to twaddle; as, a twattling gossip. L'Estrange.

One who twattles; a twaddler.

An African wading bird (Scopus umbretta) allied to the storks and herons. It is dull dusky brown, and has a large occipital crest. Called also umbrette, umbre, and umber bird. Burnt umber (Paint.), a pigment made by burning raw umber, which is changed by this process from an olive brown to a bright reddish brown. -- C…

To take a swathe from; to relieve from a bandage; to unswaddle. Addison.

An extensive artificial group of birds including the wading, swimming, and cursorial birds.

To reel, sway, or move from side to side; to move with a wagging motion; to waddle. Why do you go nodding and waggling so L'Estrange.

To move in a rolling, cumbersome manner; to waddle. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

a longer tail. -- Wood ibis (Zoöl.), any one of several species of large, long- legged, wading birds belonging to the genus Tantalus. The head and neck are naked or scantily covered with feathers. The American wood ibis (Tantalus loculator) is common in Florida. -- Wood lark (Zoöl.), a small European lark (Alauda ar…

See Wadmol.

To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm. See Worm, n. 5 (b).