Wep
(Wep) obs. imp. of Weep.
Wepen
(Wep"en) n. Weapon. [Obs.]
Wept
(Wept) imp. & p. p. of Weep.
Werche
(Werche) v. t. & i. To work. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Were
(Were) v. t. & i. To wear. See 3d Wear. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Were
(Were), n. A weir. See Weir. [Obs.] Chaucer. Sir P. Sidney.
Were
(Were), v. t. [AS. werian.] To guard; to protect. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Were
(Were) [AS. w&aemacrre (thou) wast, w&aemacrron (we, you, they) were, w&aemacrre imp.
subj. See Was.] The imperfect indicative plural, and imperfect subjunctive singular and plural, of the
verb be. See Be.
Were
(Were) n. [AS. wer; akin to OS. & OHG. wer, Goth. waír, L. vir, Skr. vira. Cf. Weregild, and
Werewolf.]
1. A man. [Obs.]
2. A fine for slaying a man; the money value set upon a man's life; weregild. [Obs.]
Every man was valued at a certain sum, which was called his were.
Bosworth. Weregild
(Were"gild`) n. [AS. wergild; wer a man, value set on a man's life + gild payment of money; akin
to G. wehrgeld. &radic285. See Were a man, and Geld, n.] (O. Eng. Law) The price of a man's
head; a compensation paid of a man killed, partly to the king for the loss of a subject, partly to the lord
of a vassal, and partly to the next of kin. It was paid by the murderer. [Written also weregeld, weregelt,
etc.] Blackstone.
Werewolf
(Were"wolf`) n.; pl. Werewolves [AS. werwulf; wer a man + wulf a wolf; cf. G. wärwolf, währwolf,
wehrwolf, a werewolf, MHG. werwolf. &radic285. See Were a man, and Wolf, and cf. Virile, World.]
A person transformed into a wolf in form and appetite, either temporarily or permanently, whether by
supernatural influences, by witchcraft, or voluntarily; a lycanthrope. Belief in werewolves, formerly general,
is not now extinct.
The werwolf went about his prey.
William of Palerne.
The brutes that wear our form and face,
The werewolves of the human race.
Longfellow. Werk
(Werk n., Werke), v. See Work. [Obs.]
Wern
(Wern) v. t. [See 1st Warn.] To refuse. [Obs.]
He is too great a niggard that will wern
A man to light a candle at his lantern.
Chaucer. Wernerian
(Wer*ne"ri*an) a. Of or pertaining to A. G. Werner, The German mineralogist and geologist,
who classified minerals according to their external characters, and advocated the theory that the strata
of the earth's crust were formed by depositions from water; designating, or according to, Werner's system.
Wernerite
(Wer"ner*ite) n. [See Wernerian.] (Min.) The common grayish or white variety of soapolite.
Weroole
(We*roo"le) n. (Zoöl.) An Australian lorikeet (Ptilosclera versicolor) noted for the variety of its
colors; — called also varied lorikeet.
