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Webster 1913 Edition

Wade

Wade

,
Noun.
Woad.
[Obs.]
Mortimer.

Wade

,
Verb.
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[GREEK]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 [GREEK]lowly among objects or circumstances that constantly [GREEK]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.

Wade

,
Verb.
T.
To pass or cross by wading;
as, he
waded
[GREEK]he rivers and swamps
.

Wade

,
Noun.
The act of wading.
[Colloq.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Wade

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.]

Definition 2024

Wade

Wade

See also: wade

English

Proper noun

Wade

  1. A topographic surname​.
  2. A male given name, transferred from the surname.
    • 1936, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, Chapter VII:
      In due time, Charles' son was born and, because it was fashionable to name boys after their fathers' commanding officers, he was called Wade Hampton Hamilton.
  3. A system of romanization for the Chinese language based on 19th-century Pekingese pronunciation, worked out by Thomas Wade.

Synonyms

Usage notes

Technically, Wade should only refer to the system of Chinese romanization developed by Thomas Wade prior to the contributions and adjustments made by Herbert Giles. In practice, it was often used as a shorthand for the more proper term Wade-Giles.

Anagrams

German

Etymology

From Old High German wado.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -aːdə

Noun

Wade f ‎(genitive Wade, plural Waden)

  1. calf (of the leg)

Declension

wade

wade

See also: Wade

English

Verb

wade ‎(third-person singular simple present wades, present participle wading, simple past and past participle waded)

  1. (intransitive) to walk through water or something that impedes progress.
    • Milton
      So eagerly the fiend […] / With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, / And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.
    • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter VIII
      After breakfast the men set out to hunt, while the women went to a large pool of warm water covered with a green scum and filled with billions of tadpoles. They waded in to where the water was about a foot deep and lay down in the mud. They remained there from one to two hours and then returned to the cliff.
  2. (intransitive) to progress with difficulty
    to wade through a dull book
    • Dryden
      And wades through fumes, and gropes his way.
    • Davenant
      The king's admirable conduct has waded through all these difficulties.
  3. (transitive) to walk through (water or similar impediment); to pass through by wading
    wading swamps and rivers
  4. (intransitive) To enter recklessly.
    to wade into a fight or a debate
Translations

Noun

wade ‎(plural wades)

  1. an act of wading
Translations

Related terms

Etymology 2

Noun

wade ‎(uncountable)

  1. Obsolete form of woad.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Mortimer to this entry?)

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch wade, from Old Dutch *watho, from Proto-Germanic *waþwô.

Cognate with German Wade ‎(“calf (of leg)”), Swedish vad ‎(“calf (of leg)”) and Afrikaans waai ‎(“popliteal”).

Noun

wade f ‎(plural waden, diminutive waadje n)

  1. popliteal
Descendants

Etymology 2

Noun

wade f ‎(plural waden, diminutive waadje n)

  1. shroud
Derived terms
Related terms

Etymology 3

From Middle Dutch wade, reformed from waet through influence of the collective gewade (modern gewaad). Further from Old Dutch *wāt, from Proto-Germanic *wēd-.

Cognate with Middle High German wāt, Old Saxon wād, Old English wǣd, Old Norse váð.

Noun

wade f ‎(plural waden, diminutive waadje n)

  1. type of trawl
Synonyms
  • schrobnet
Hypernyms
  • sleepnet

Etymology 4

Verb

wade

  1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of waden

Etymology

From the Old English word for a ford.

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