Search the Dictionary

e; also, to possess. [Obs.] When a strong armed man keepeth his house, all things that he wieldeth ben in peace. Wyclif (Luke xi. 21). Wile [ne will] ye wield gold neither silver ne money in your girdles. Wyclif (Matt. x. 9.)

Capable of being wielded.

The act or power of wielding. [Obs.] "Our weak wieldance." Bp. Hall.

One who wields or employs; a manager; a controller. A wielder of the great arm of the war. Milton.

Power; authority; rule. [Obs.] To have them in your might and in your wielding. Chaucer.

Not to be wielded; unmanageable; unwieldy. [R.] "Wieldless might." Spenser.

Admitting of being easily wielded or managed. [Obs.] Golding.

Capable of being wielded; manageable; wieldable; -- opposed to unwieldy. [R.] Johnson.

Not easily wielded or carried; unmanageable; bulky; ponderous. "A fat, unwieldy body of fifty-eight years old." Clarendon. -- Un*wield"i*ly, adv. -- Un*wield"i*ness, n.

edge or blade, for felling trees, chopping and splitting wood, hewing timber, etc. It is wielded by a wooden helve or handle, so fixed in a socket or eye as to be in the same plane with the blade. The broadax, or carpenter's ax, is an ax for hewing timber, made heavier than the chopping ax, and with a broader and thin…

One who wields an ax.

The one who wields the bat in cricket, baseball, etc.

One who wields a bat; a batsman.

A large, unwieldy person. [Obs.] Nares.

To manage, wield, or direct. "Thus must thou thy body bear." Shak. Hence: To behave; to conduct. Hath he borne himself penitently in prison Shak.

One who wields a bill; a billman. Strype.

A heavy staff of wood, usually tapering, and wielded the hand; a weapon; a cudgel. But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs; Rome and her rats are at the point of battle. Shak.

or grace; wanting dexterity, nimbleness, or readiness; stiff; awkward, as if benumbed; unwieldy; unhandy; hence; ill-made, misshapen, or inappropriate; as, a clumsy person; a clumsy workman; clumsy fingers; a clumsy gesture; a clumsy excuse. But thou in clumsy verse, unlicked, unpointed, Hast shamefully defied the Lor…

A living body or its bulk. [Obs.] For he was strong, and of so mighty corse As ever wielded spear in warlike hand. Spenser.

A slow unwieldy trading vessel. [Obs.] [Written also crayer, cray, and craie.] Shak.