wet, adj.
Forms:
α. Old English–Middle English wǽt ( wát), Old English Anglian wét ( uét), Middle English wet, Middle English–1500s wete, Middle English, 1800s Scottish weet, Middle English–1500s weete, Middle English weiete, northern weytt, Middle English–1600s Scottish weit, 1500s weat(e. β. Middle English northern wat, Middle English northern and Scottish wate, midlands wote, Middle English–1500s Scottish wait. γ. Middle English– wet, Middle English–1600s wette, Middle English–1700s wett, (1500s whet). δ. Scottish1500s watt, 1500s– wat.(Show Less)
Frequency (in current use):
Show frequency band information
Etymology: Three distinct types are represented here: (1) the α-forms, originating in Old English wǽt adjective = Old Frisian wêt (West Frisian wiet, dialect weet; North Frisian wiat, wīt), Old Norse vátr (Icelandic votur, Norwegian vaat; Swedish våt, Danish vaad), a word not found outside of the Anglo-Frisian and Scandinavian groups; (2) the β-forms resulting from the adoption of the Old Scandinavian *wāt- (Old Norse vátr), giving the common northern Middle English wate, wait, and the rare midland wote; (3) the γ-forms, properly the past participle of the verb, which finally supplant the others except in dialect. The Scottish wat may either be a variant of this or of the earlier wate.
1. Consisting of moisture, liquid. Chiefly as a pleonastic rhetorical epithet of water or tears.In Old English used with reference to mediaeval physiology = moist adj. 1d, humid adj. b.
c888 Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. xxxiii. §5
Sie eorðe is dryge & ceald, & þæt wæter wæt & ceald.
c1000 Ælfric Lives Saints xxx. 441
Forgif, drihten, þæt þyses fyres hæto sy gecyrred on wætne deaw.
c1220 Bestiary 752
Al ðat eure smelleð swete, be it drie, be it wete.
a1300 Cursor Mundi 23679
Waters renand alwais wat.
13.. K. Horn
(Harl.)
970
Horn..spec wiþ wete tearen.
c1330 R. Mannyng Chron. Wace 9952
Þre dayes hit was þey nought ete, Ne nought drank þat was wete.
c1374 G. Chaucer Compl. Mars 89
This cely Venus nygh dreynt in teres wete.
c1374 G. Chaucer Troilus v. 1109
Phebus with his hete Gan..to warmen of þe Est See þe wawes wete.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid vii. v. 82
Careit throu feill large haw stremys wait.
1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xxi. 68
Be your teares wet, yes faith, I pray weep not.
View more context for this quotation
a1861 E. B. Browning Last Poems
(1862)
38
Our voice which thrilled you so, will let You sleep; our tears are only wet.
1894 Pall Mall Gaz. 20 Dec. 3/1
At Suez, Padishah gave way to tears—actual wet tears—when Potter became the owner of the birds.
1896 R. Kipling Seven Seas 85
But, oh, the little cargo-boats, that sail the wet seas roun'.
in combination.
1597 T. Middleton Wisdome of Solomon Paraphr. xix. sig. Bbv
The drie-land foule, did make the sea their nest, The wet-sea fish did make the land their rest.
c888—1896(Hide quotations)
2.
a. Of weather, a period of time, a locality: Rainy.
c893 tr. Orosius Hist. iii. iii. 102
Of untidlican gewideran, þæt is, of wætum sumerum, & of drygum wintrum.
c1380 J. Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 96
As wete somers nurishen siche tares.
c1461 Bale's Chron. in Six Town Chron.
(1911)
145
Upon Thursday which was a wete day.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 21v
You must not plowe in wette weather.
1637 J. Milton Comus 32
Wet Octobers torrent flood.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1679
(1955)
IV. 182
A very wett, & sickly season.
1685 in F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent.
(1907)
II. 382
The wettest and windiest day that I have seene.
1786 R. Burns Poems & Songs
(1968)
I. 158
The Simmer had been cauld an' wat.
1849 C. Brontë Shirley II. i. 25
They had passed a long wet day together without ennui.
1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting iii. 94
Three miserable soaking-wet days.
1870 J. H. Bennet Winter & Spring Mediterranean vii. 177
[In] The Riviera..it is seldom or never, at the same time, cold and wet.
1877 T. H. Huxley Physiography 46
The wettest spot in England being near Seathwaite in Cumberland.
c893—1877(Hide quotations)
b. Of the air, wind, etc.: Holding or carrying moisture in the form of vapour.
c1540
(▸?a1400)
Destr. Troy 12474
Wintur vp wacknet with his wete aire.
1883 R. L. Stevenson Silverado Squatters ii. ii. 86
In the tunnel a cold, wet draught..blew.
c1540—1883(Hide quotations)
c. Of a star: Bringing rain.
c1425 MS Digby 233 lf. 225/1
At holy rode day..bygynneth þe myȝt & þe strengþe of þe wete sterre arture.
c1425—c1425(Hide quotations)
d. transferred and figurative. (Cf. rainy day n. 2.)
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies
(1662)
i. 38
Ergo, saith the Miser, part with nothing, but keep all against a Wet day.
1691 J. Norris Pract. Disc. Divine Subj. 34
The Children of this World..will [not] let slip any other Advantage..of providing against a Wet Day.
1865 J. Hatton Bitter Sweets v
You'd most likely come down topsy-turvy, and have a werry wet welcome at the end of it.
1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xxix
Scotland was evidently bent on giving us a wet welcome.
a1661—1872(Hide quotations)
e. Combinations (adjective + noun used as an attributive phrase).
1883 R. Broughton Belinda II. iii. vi. 298
It was an innocent enough wet-day amusement!
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 96
The torrential downpour of the wet-season rain.
1901 ‘C. Holland’ Mousmé 323
Their huge wet-weather hats.
1883—1901(Hide quotations)
f. absol. = wet season. Frequently with definite article and also with capital initial. colloquial (chiefly Australian).
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 371
When the Ogowé and its neighbouring rivers come down in the ‘long wet’.
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 375
In February comes the short dry, then the short wet till May.
1908 J. Gunn We of Never-never i. 5
He..wired an inane suggestion about waiting till after the Wet.
1934 Bulletin
(Sydney)
29 Aug. 20/4
In the ‘wet’ it became a miniature lake at which one cocky's horses were wont to drink.
1941 I. L. Idriess Great Boomerang vii. 51
An early and heavy wet would set in that would spill water for a thousand miles south-west.
1968 S. L. Elliott Rusty Bugles in E. Hanger Three Austral. Plays i. ii. 41
That's what everyone tells me. Wait until you've done a Wet.
1981 P. Carey Bliss iii. 135
Each year when the wet ended she found herself looking forward to it again.
1897—1981(Hide quotations)
3.
a. Of land or soil: Holding water, saturated with water, heavy.
a900 Leiden Riddle 1
Mec se ueta uong, uundrum freorig, ob his innaðae aerest caendæ.
c1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 90
Ðeos wyrt..bið cenned gehwær on smeþum landum & on wætum.
a1023 Wulfstan Homilies 249
Loca humentia, þæt beoð wæte stowa.
a1300 Cursor Mundi 1318
Gyson, fison, tigre, eufrate, Þis four mas al þis erth wate.
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xiv. 41
Þe wylde worme vnder weet erthe.
c1425 Wyntoun Cron. i. xi. 968
Þe watyr of Nyle our fletis it all Withe mowynge spryngis wiþ outtyn spate, Qwhen Egipte nedis to be wate [Wemyss wait].
1487
(▸a1380)
J. Barbour Bruce
(St. John's Cambr.)
xix. 692
For I haf gert spy ws a gat. Suppos that it be sum-deill wat, A page of ouris we sall nocht tyne.
1508 Golagros & Gawane
(Chepman & Myllar)
sig. aiiv
Sa wundir wait wes the way.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. ix
[Oats] wyll growe on weter grounde than any corne els.
1557 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandrie sig. B.ii
When pasture is gone, and the fildes mier and weate.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl.
(1895)
II. 286
Thay contendet to cum out of that narow and watt place ful of dubis and myres.
1625 G. Markham Inrichm. Weald of Kent 9
A cold, stiffe and wet clay.
1784 Ann. Agric. 2 43
In many of their fields they are troubled with springs; they call the wet spots squalls.
1842 J. Bischoff Comprehensive Hist. Woollen Manuf. II. 383
This is not, however, a turnip soil, being much too wet and heavy.
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre I. v. 83
All underfoot was still soaking wet with the floods of yesterday.
1911 G. Macdonald Roman Wall Scotl. 132
The field at the bottom is still wet and marshy.
absolute.
1823 W. Scott St. Ronan's Well I. viii. 194
Miss Clara cares little for rough roads..Zounds! She can spank it over wet and dry.
figurative.
1824 W. Irving Club Queer Fellows ii, in Tales of Traveller
A good joke grows in a wet soil,..but withers on your d——d high dry grounds.
in combination.
1778 W. Marshall Minutes Agric. Digest 70
A wet-land Farm.
a900—1911(Hide quotations)
b. Of a crop: Grown in a moist or watery soil.
1885 W. W. Hunter Imperial Gazetteer India
(ed. 2)
II. 63
The most valuable of the ‘wet’ crops is sugar-cane.
1885—1885(Hide quotations)
4. Made damp or moist by exposure to the elements or by falling in water; sprinkled, covered, or permeated with rain, dew, etc. Const. with, †of.
a. of things, esp. clothing.
c900 tr. Bede Eccl. Hist.
(1890)
v. xii. 436
Næfre he ða his wætan hræl & þa cealdan forlætan wolde, oðþæt hig eft of his seolfes lichoman gewermedon & adrugedon.
c1290 St. Bridget 39 in S. Eng. Leg. 193
So gret rein ore louerd to eorþe sende Þat hire cloþes al wete weren.
c1385 G. Chaucer Legend Good Women 775
Aurora with the stremys of hir hete Hadde dreyed vp the dew of erbis wete.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 523/1
Weet, wythe reyne, complutus.
?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye
(1894)
I. lf. 140
As for hercules all that he had vpon hym was weet and nothing drye.
1596 W. Raleigh Discoverie Guiana
(new ed.)
9
The weete clothes of so many men thrust together.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. i. 77
O you shall see him laugh til his face be like a wet cloake ill laide vp.
View more context for this quotation
1714 B. Mandeville Fable Bees i. 219
In comes the nimble Messenger smoaking hot, with his Cloaths as wet as Dung with the Rain.
1800 W. Wordsworth in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads II. 93
The Traveller would hang his wet clothes on a chair.
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers l. 542
The sky was dark and gloomy..the streets wet and sloppy.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xviii. 182
She..slipped off her shoes..and walked deliberately..through the wettest of the wet grass.
1866 A. C. Swinburne Interlude in Poems & Ballads 2
In the greenest growth of the Maytime, I rode where the woods were wet, Between the dawn and the daytime.
1884 D. Pae Eustace 13
Eustace..was not long in divesting himself of his wet garments.
c900—1884(Hide quotations)
b. of persons (together with their clothes) or a part of the body. Also of animals.
c1275
(▸?a1200)
Laȝamon Brut
(Calig.)
(1978)
l. 14015
Þa wes ich al wet & weri of sorȝen and seoc.
c1405
(▸c1390)
G. Chaucer Reeve's Tale
(Hengwrt)
(2003)
l. 187
Wery and weet as beest is in the reyn Comth sely Iohn.
?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye
(1894)
I. lf. 139
Wherof hercules and exione were all wette of the wasshing and springyng of the wawes.
1487
(▸a1380)
J. Barbour Bruce
(St. John's Cambr.)
iv. 380
Thouch thai wate war and wery.
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. cccxxiv. 205 b
Suche as were wete & colde made fyers to warme them.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2
(2nd issue)
iii. i. 27
Canst thou, ô partiall sleepe, giue them repose, To the wet season in an howre so rude.
1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne i. xiv. 4
He..shooke his wings with roarie May-dewes wet.
c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1641
(1955)
II. 62
We were forced to walke on foote very wett, and discompos'd.
1728 A. Ramsay Anacreontic on Love 8
A poor young wean a' wat!
1789 W. Blake Little Boy Lost in Songs of Innocence
The child was wet with dew.
1825 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 12 Nov. 425
The farm-house..from the warmth and good fare of which we do not mean to stir, until we can do it without the chance of a wet skin.
1849 G. P. R. James Woodman III. xiv. 281
Set me a seat by the fire,..and then call in the slave. He is wetter than we are.
1861 E. D. Cook Paul Foster's Daughter i
Besides, I hate to get wet.
1918 Chambers's Jrnl. 1 Oct. 678/2
Mad as a wet hen because I refuse to take his word for it that the titles are O.K.
c1275—1918(Hide quotations)
c. with prefixed intensive participle, as wringing wet (see wringing adj. 1b), dripping wet, †dropping wet. wet through, to the skin : having one's clothes completely saturated (cf. wet v. 4c).
1526 100 Merry Tales No. 82 (facs.) 22 b
There fel a good showre of rayn that the skoler was well wasshyd and wete to ye skyn.
1598 Floure & Leafe in T. Speght Wks. G. Chaucer f. 367v/2
Wherwith they made hem stately fires great To dry their clothes yt were wringing weat.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. v. 146
Dropping wet..I returne to land Laden with spoiles.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues
Traversé,..wet through, or (as we say) to the skinne.
1764 S. Foote Mayor of Garret i. 12
I don't believe..that they were ever wet to the skin in their lives.
1770 J. Wesley Jrnl. 16 Apr.
We..got into a Scotch mist, and were dropping wet.
1803 R. Southey Select. from Lett.
(1856)
I. 61
But all this does not make it the more agreeable to get wet through.
1835 W. Irving Tour on Prairies xiii
Some dripping wet, having fallen into the river.
1840 H. W. Longfellow in S. Longfellow Life H. W. Longfellow
(1891)
I. 359
The last eighteen miles it rained like fury, and I reached Hartford wet through.
1859 F. E. Paget Curate of Cumberworth 343
The rain set in..so heavily, that in half an hour I was wet to the skin.
1526—1859(Hide quotations)
d. absol. the wet = one's wet clothes.
17.. Ploughman iii, in D. Herd Anc. & Mod. Sc. Songs
(1776)
II. 145
Cast aff the wet, put on the dry, And gae to bed, my deary.
1816 W. Scott Antiquary II. x*. 280
And then the man casts aff the wat and puts on the dry, and sits down..behint the ingle.
17..—1816(Hide quotations)
e. Applied to a removable liner for the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine that has cooling water flowing between it and the cylinder wall.
1935 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 39 470
The four cylinders 63 m/m. bore by 120 m/m. stroke were steel jacketed, wet liners, having four valves per cylinder.
1959 Motor 14 Oct. 304/2
Cylinder blocks with individual wet liners of cast iron.
1975 M. J. Nunney Automotive Engine iii. 94
Positive sealing arrangements must be made with wet cylinder liners to prevent leakage of coolant into the crankcase.
1981 H. E. Ellinger Automotive Engines x. 157/2
Coolant flows around the cylinder sleeve, so this type of sleeve is called a wet sleeve.
1935—1981(Hide quotations)
5.
a. Suffused with tears; moist with weeping or with being wept upon. Const. with, †of.
?c1225 Ancrene Riwle
(Cleo.: Scribe B)
(1972)
203
Bi halt wið wet ehe þine scheome sunnen.
c1275
(▸?a1200)
Laȝamon Brut
(Calig.)
(1978)
l. 15106
Wete weoren his wongen.
a1300 Cursor Mundi 25999
Þat þou mai sai al wit þe prophet, Mi weping mas mi bed al wet.
a1325
(▸c1250)
Gen. & Exod.
(1968)
l. 2356
Euerilc he kiste, on ilc he gret, Ilc here was of is teres wet.
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis I. 98
Hire yhen smale and depe set, Hire chekes ben with teres wet.
c1405
(▸c1385)
G. Chaucer Knight's Tale
(Hengwrt)
(2003)
l. 422
The pure fettres of his shynes grete Were of his bittre salte teeris wete.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon
(1885)
ix. 226
His eyen wexed weete agen for pite.
▸
?a1513 W. Dunbar Ballat Passioun in Poems
(1998)
I. 38
Repentence ay with cheikis wait No pane nor pennence did eschew.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline
(1623)
v. vi. 35
These her Women..who with wet cheekes Were present when she finish'd.
View more context for this quotation
1668 J. Dryden Sr Martin Mar-all iv. 47
Lord! her innocency makes me laugh my Cheeks all wet.
1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 17
Epistles wet With tears, that trickled down the writer's cheeks.
1871 W. C. Bryant tr. Homer Odyssey I. v. 123
Gazing with wet eyes on the barren deep.
1885 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche iii. xxvi. 37
And when at night her lover kissed her, lo! Her tender face was wet with tears of grief.
?c1225—1885(Hide quotations)
b. Suffused or covered with blood; dripping or oozing with blood. (Only of wounds, or with explicit mention of blood.)
a1300 Cursor Mundi 24082
His bodi al blodi wat.
13.. Sir Orfeo 80
Sche froted hir honden and hir fet, And crached hir visage, it bled wete.
c1320 Cast. Love 1433
Þe woundes grene and weet, Wȝuche þat weoren on honden and feet.
a1400
(▸a1325)
Cursor Mundi
(Vesp.)
l. 15628
Þat was blod þan of him ran, þe place was þar-wit wett.
c1440 York Myst. xxxviii. 283
Þat swete, Þat for my loue tholed woundes wete.
c1540
(▸?a1400)
Destr. Troy 1329
Wyde woundes & wete.
1804 W. L. Bowles Spir. Discov. iv. 24
The evil of his march through cities stormed, And regions wet with blood!
a1300—1804(Hide quotations)
c. Moist or damp with perspiration.
c1400 Laud Troy Bk. 8436
Of his forhede barst the swote, That al his face ther-of was wote.
1803 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 10 84
After violent perspiration, a linen or cotton shirt becomes wet.
c1400—1803(Hide quotations)
d. to get wet : to lose one's temper, become angry. Australian slang (? Obsolete).
1898 Bulletin
(Sydney)
17 Dec. Red Page
To get narked is to lose your temper; also expressed by getting dead wet.
1916 C. J. Dennis Songs Sentimental Bloke
(new ed.)
42
Romeo gits wet as 'ell.
1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. 121
A man in a temper is said..to get wet.
1898—1945(Hide quotations)
e. to get (someone) wet : to gain the upper hand over; to have at one's mercy. New Zealand slang.
c1926 ‘Mixer’ Transport Workers' Song Bk. 29
He skites about in-fighting. Stick to him, Mick; you've got him wet.
1941 Coast to Coast 124
‘Got you wet, haven't they?’ He flung the remark over his shoulder as he went over to his bed.
1945 F. Sargeson When Wind Blows vi. 40
Now we've got 'em wet.
c1926—1945(Hide quotations)
f. Of those activities of intelligence organizations, esp. of the K.G.B., that involve assassination. slang.
1972 A. Price Col. Butler's Wolf vi. 58
The Russian slang for Spetsburo Thirteen was Mokryye Dela—‘The department of wet affairs’..and to get wet was the feared, inevitable fate of traitors pursued by the special bureau.
1975 J. Grady Shadow of Condor ii. 47
‘The courier made other mistakes... It was a wet affair.’.. Ryzhov like to use the old KGB liquid euphemism for executions.
1980 J. Gardner Garden of Weapons ii. vii. 191
He had seen men killed: and killed them himself: he had directed ‘wet operations’, as they used to be called.
1972—1980(Hide quotations)
6.
a. Made moist or damp by dipping in, or sprinkling or smearing with, water or other liquid.Frequently of new-printed matter (newspapers or books), esp. in the phrase wet from the press.
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis II. 264
Tho lay ther certein wode cleft, Of which the pieces nou and eft Sche made hem in the pettes wete, And put hem in the fyri hete.
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum
(1495)
vii. lxiv. 280
The water slydeth of as it were of a wete hyde.
c1430 Two Cookery-bks. 48
Wete þin dyssche in þe hony, & with þe wete dyssche ley þe malmenye & þe cofyns.
1432–50 tr. Higden I. 267
Then the white neckes schalle be humectate or made weiete with golde.
c1450 Mirk's Festial 191
Byd hym goo ynto þe chirch, and se how al þe pament ȝet ys wete of þe holy watyr.
1644 J. Milton Areopagitica 18
Do we not see..weekly that continu'd Court-libell..Printed, as the wet sheets can witnes, and dispers't among us for all that licencing can doe?
1721 E. Ward Merry Travellers: Pt. I 3
Then a wet Finger does its Duty, And robs the Bar-board of its beauty.
1754 Connoisseur No. 29. ⁋1
I snatch up the favourite sheets wet from the press and devour every syllable.
1798 S. T. Coleridge Recantation xx
With the morning's wet newspaper.
1804 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 12 494
It should be afterwards cleaned with a wet sponge.
1835 New Monthly Mag. 44 337
Just published, and wet from the press, ‘The Stranger's Guide through Little Pedlington’.
1838 C. Dickens Mem. Grimaldi I. vii. 186
No sooner did they arrive wet from the press, than men on horseback were immediately despatched with them to Canterbury.
1839 T. De Quincey Lake Reminiscences in Tait's Edinb. Mag. July 458/1
Wordsworth's habits of using books..were not vulgar; not the habits of those who turn over the page by means of a wet finger.
1850 F. K. Hunt Fourth Estate II. 220
Just as the wet Newspaper, fresh from the News~boy, is being opened at the eight o'clock breakfast table.
1859 E. FitzGerald tr. Rubáiyát Omar Khayyám xxxvi. 8
I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay.
1390—1859(Hide quotations)
†b. (a) with a wet finger: easily, with little effort. Also (b) readily, without hesitation; (c) slightly, lightly. Obsolete.Perhaps from the practice of wetting the first or second finger on one's tongue in order to facilitate turning over the leaves of a book or to rub out writing on a slate. Cf. quots. 1721 at sense 6a, 1839 at sense 6a.
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes To Rdr. *iv
A large and plain table..whereby..to any good matier in the booke conteined, readie waye and recourse maye with a weat fynger easily bee found out.
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. ix. sig. Lv
With a wet fynger ye can fet, As muche as maie easily all this matter ease.
1589 Rare Triumphes Loue & Fortune iii. sig. C.iv
And I can finde, One with a wet finger that is starke blinde.
1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 2
I hate brawles with my hart: and can turne-ouer A volume of wronges with a wett finger.
1600 Wisdome Doctor Dodypoll iii. sig. E3v
Flo. Canst thou bring me thither? Pea[sant]. With a wet finger sir.
1644 D. Featley Roma Ruens 5
I could with a wet finger produce divers decrees of Popes..flat repugnant one to the other.
1690 C. Ness Compl. Hist. & Myst. Old & New Test. I. 293
How easily..even with a wet finger, (as we say) could God..have overturned Jacob.
1728 Street-robberies, Consider'd 47
When our Tryal came on, we got clear with a wet Finger, as the Folks say.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa V. viii. 91
If thou likest her, I'll get her for thee with a wet finger, as the saying is!
1754 S. Foote Knights i. 15
If Dame Winifred was here, she'd make 'em all out with a wet Finger; but they are above me.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian xi, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. I. 329
If we could but find ony ane to say she had gi'en the least hint o' her condition, she wad be brought aff wi' a wat finger.
(b)
1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. F6
The broker wil giue mony for them, with a wet finger.
1604 T. Dekker & T. Middleton Honest Whore i. ii. 4
If euer I stand in neede of a wench that will come with a wet finger.
(c)
1586 Praise of Musicke vii. 79
To let passe all generalities which I touched before with a wet finger.
1624 T. Gataker Discuss. Transubstant. 45
The slightnesse and slendernesse of his Answeres, with a wet finger (as we say) passing by the manifold allegations produced.
1542—1818(Hide quotations)
c. in other proverbial expressions.to cover oneself with a wet sack: see to cover oneself with a wet sack at sack n.1 3a.
1553 R. Horne tr. J. Calvin Certaine Homilies i. sig. C.iiijv
Thinkinge that he is escaped when he is covered, as the common saing is, vndre a wett sack.
1578 H. Wotton tr. J. Yver Courtlie Controuersie 61
For so many pleasures vanished, as an Ele through a wette hande.
1579 L. Tomson tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. S. Paule to Timothie & Titus 340/2
Therefore the Papists couer them selues with a wet sack, when they say [etc.].
1616 T. Draxe Bibliotheca Scholastica 218
He holdeth a wet eele by the taile.
a1651 D. Calderwood Hist. Kirk Scotl.
(1843)
II. 404
Where they alledge we sould have beene occasioun to caus our sonne follow his father hastilie, they cover themselves theranent with a wett seck.
1674 Let. from Gentleman of Romish Relig. 32
There being no more hold of them than of a wet Eel by the tail.
1553—1674(Hide quotations)
d. to come with a wet sail : to make swift progress to victory, like a ship with sails wetted in order to keep close to the wind.
1876 Coursing Cal. 326
Westeria, coming with a wet sail, rushed by and ultimately killed.
1901 Daily Express 18 Mar. 8/1
Bury, who were expected to come with a wet sail, went down before their local rivals at Bolton.
1876—1901(Hide quotations)
7. Of timber: Full of sap, unseasoned.
c1405
(▸c1385)
G. Chaucer Knight's Tale
(Hengwrt)
(2003)
l. 1480
And as it queynte, it made a whistlynge As doon thise weete brondes in hir brennynge.
1468–9 in C. L. Kingsford Stonor Lett. & Papers
(1919)
I. 103
Let not hit be wete tymbyr in hond.
1900 Hueffer in Academy 18 Aug. 127/2
The wet-wood smoke drives us winking blind.
1906 H. Van Dyke Ideals xii. 266
Wet wood will not burn.
c1405—1906(Hide quotations)
8. Of paint, varnish, ink: Not yet dry, sticky, liable to smudge.
1519 W. Horman Vulgaria viii. f. 80v
Blottynge papyr serueth to drye weete wryttynge lest there be made blottis or blurris.
1552–3 in A. Feuillerat Documents Office of Revels Edward VI
(1914)
139
For drying of stayning paynting and other wett pasted and mowlded woorkes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale
(1623)
v. iii. 81
The ruddinesse vpon her Lippe, is wet: You'le marre it, if you kisse it.
View more context for this quotation
1850 D. M. Mulock Olive
(1890)
xx. 157
Ha! don't come near my picture. The paint's wet. Get away.
1883 M. E. James How to Decorate 19
Remember that tempera is many shades lighter when it is dry than when it is wet.
1914 ‘Bartimeus’ Naval Occasions
(1916)
vii. 50
The younger girl wiped a foot of wet paint off the coaming of a hatch, and said sweetly it didn't matter in the least.
1519—1914(Hide quotations)
9. Fortification. Of a ditch: Containing water.For the sense cf. wet dock n.
1590 R. Williams Briefe Disc. Warre 50
No drie ditch can bee compared for strength vnto a wet ditch.
1813 Ann. Reg., App. to Chron. 130
The whole of the fortification is surrounded by a wet ditch.
1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey II. 193
The citadel is separated from the mainland by a wet ditch of artificial construction.
1590—1869(Hide quotations)
10. Of fish:
a. Cured with salt or brine.
1580 R. Hitchcock Pollitique Platt a iv
Twentie thousande of the beste and middle sort of wette fishe (at the leaste) called blanckfishe, and tenne thousande drie fishe.
c1580 in Eng. Hist. Rev.
(1914)
July 523
Wett newland fishe, ye c, 1 li. Drye fishe, the hondert, 0 li. 10 sh.
1708 London Gaz. No. 4421/7
The Cargo of the Prize-Ship Margaret of Nantz, consisting of about 11000 Wett, or Mud-fish.
1883 Great Internat. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 64
The preparation of white herrings..consists of packing the fish in salt, which soon turns to brine, and this method of preparation is termed the ‘wet cure’.
1580—1883(Hide quotations)
b. Fresh, not dried.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 62/2
All fresh fish is ‘wet’; all cured or salted fish, ‘dry’.
1899 Daily News 14 Jan. 5/1
The inexpensive kinds of fish are cod, hake, skate, sprats, and ‘wet’ haddock.
1851—1899(Hide quotations)
11. Of confections: Preserved in syrup; of a syrupy nature. Of surgical or natural-history specimens: Bottled in spirits.
1612 Sc. Bk. Rates in Halyburton's Ledger
(1867)
312
Wett confectionis—Preserved barbareis..Marmalad [etc.].
1686 tr. J. Chardin Trav. Persia 259
Sweat-meats Dry and Wet, upon small Porcelaine Plates.
1836 C. P. Traill Backwoods of Canada 46
The American Crab, these beautiful little scarlet apples so often met with as a wet preserve among our sweetmeats at home.
1867 H. Latham Black & White 87
The ‘wet specimens,’ those bottled in spirits.
1891 Cent. Dict.
Wet preparation, a specimen of natural history immersed in alcohol.
1612—1891(Hide quotations)
12. Of measure: Used for liquid articles. ? Obsolete.
1597 J. Skene De Verborum Significatione at Gangiatores
Al measures, & weichts, baith dry & weete.
1622 G. de Malynes Consuetudo i. iv. 39
The Romanes in times past, called the wet Measure by Ounces, as wee doe the weight.
1638 L. Roberts Merchants Mappe of Commerce ii. 238
Wet Measures are also derived from this pound Troy.
1597—1638(Hide quotations)
13. Medicine.
a. Designating certain diseases which are characterized by moist secretions.
1566 T. Blundeville Order curing Horses Dis. f. 46, in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe
I cal it the wet coughe, bycause the horse in his coughing, will voyde moystye matter at his mouth.
1566 T. Blundeville Order curing Horses Dis. f. 92v, in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe
Of the wette Spauen, or through Spauen.
1898 P. Manson Trop. Dis. xiv. 232
The paralytic-atrophic cases are designated ‘dry beriberi’ or beriberi atrophica; the dropsical cases, ‘wet beriberi’ or beriberi hydrops.
1899 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon
Wet brain, Wet scald, Wet tetter.
1566—1899(Hide quotations)
b. wet cup n. and v. (wet cupping) see wet cupping at cupping n. 1.
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. II. 175
Wet-cupping the loins to the extent of several ounces may be of service.
1901 W. A. N. Dorland Med. Dict.
(ed. 2)
761/1
Wet-cup, a cupping-glass to be used after scarification.
1897—1901(Hide quotations)
c. Designating various modes of hydropathic treatment, as in wet bandage, wet compress, wet pack, wet packing, wet sheet.
1843 C. Scudamore Med. Visit Gräfenberg 16
Wet Bandages.
1848 W. M. Thackeray Bk. Snobs xxx. 116
The former had a wet compresse around her body.
1859 J. Smedley Pract. Hydropathy 43
Wet packs may be repeated several times in the space of twelve hours.
1870 J. Smedley Pract. Hydropathy
(ed. 12)
Body bandage or wet compress.
1874 J. C. Bucknill & D. H. Tuke Man. Psychol. Med.
(ed. 3)
754
The Wet Sheet or Wet Pack..acts as an energetic sudorific.
1874 J. S. Blackie On Self-culture 51
The wet sheet packing, one of the most bruited of the hydropathic appliances.
1899 T. C. Allbutt Syst. Med. VIII. 160
Wet sheets, packs, sitz-baths, and douches are of great value.
figurative.
c1864 J. B. Paton in Life
(1914)
85
We cannot submit to have these men..wrapped in the eternal wet-sheet of a monastic college.
1843—1899(Hide quotations)
14. colloquial.
a. Primed with liquor; more or less intoxicated. (Cf. wet v. 7b.)
1709 M. Prior Poems Several Occasions 90
When my lost Lover the tall Ship ascends, With Musick Gay, and wet with Jovial Friends.
1834 S. T. Coleridge Table-talk 20 Jan.
Some men are like musical glasses;—to produce their finest tones, you must keep them wet.
1709—1834(Hide quotations)
b. Addicted to drink.
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew
Wet-Quaker, a Drunkard of that Sect.
1825 J. T. Brockett Gloss. North Country Words
Wet-hand, a drunken person.
1900 ‘R. Guthrie’ Kitty Fagan 207
It might keep some o' the wet hands oot o' the pub.
1699—1900(Hide quotations)
c. transferred.
1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse
(Brit. Libr. copy)
sig. E4
Those that keepe a wette corner for a friend, and will not thinke scorne to drinke with a good fellowe and a Souldiour.
1805 W. Windham Speeches Parl.
(1812)
II. 271
The recruit took the condition of a soldier, with a guinea to make it a wet bargain.
1824 W. Irving Club Queer Fellows ii, in Tales of Traveller
His jokes, it must be confessed, were rather wet, but they suited the circle over which he presided.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair
(1848)
xi. 93
As he knew he should have a wet night, it was agreed that he might gallop back again in time for church on Sunday morning.
1905 H. A. Vachell Hill iii. 49
Some of us had a wet night of it, last night.
1592—1905(Hide quotations)
15. colloquial.
a. Of a Quaker: Not very strict in the observances of his sect. (See also 14b.)
1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical iii. 30
Would you buy any Naked Truth, or Light in a Dark-Lanthorn? Look in the Wet-Quakers Walk.
a1708 T. Ward England's Reformation
(1710)
ii. 44
Quakers, and Wet-Quakers, or Merry-ones.
1785 G. A. Bellamy Apol. Life
(ed. 3)
I. xiii. 78
I had not indeed dressed myself with the studied formality of a rigid Quaker, but only so plain and neat as to entitle me to the denomination of a wet Quaker; a distinction that arises chiefly from the latter's wearing ribbands, gauzes, and laces.
1838 Bentley's Misc. 4 297
Who has not heard of..a wet Quaker? who thees and yays, wears no collar to his coat..; but is in other respects..living that sort of life which, in England, is called that of a jolly dog.
1839 F. Marryat Diary in Amer. I. 255
Mr. Buffum..was dressed as what is termed a wet Quaker.
1866 T. Carlyle in J. W. Carlyle Lett. & Mem.
(1883)
II. 53
An enthusiastic young ‘Wet-Quaker’.
in extended use.
1831 W. Irving Life & Lett.
(1864)
II. 461
Mine host, the Rev. C. R. Reaston Rodes..is a kind of wet parson, if I may borrow that phrase from the Quakers.
1855 J. H. Newman Callista
(1856)
vi. 48
Agellius is but a wet Christian;..not obstinate, like his brother there.
1876 in Marchioness of Dufferin Canad. Jrnl.
(1891)
295
I believe our one friend here is a ‘wet’ Mormon, and at his house, where we spent the evening, we only met one-wifed men.
1700—1876(Hide quotations)
b. Inept, ineffectual, effete; also as quasi-adv. and in combination wet fish, a wet individual, a ‘drip’. Also spec. in Politics (see quots. 1981, 1983). Cf. wet n.1 6.
1916 ‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin ii. 27
I'll give yer a clip 'longside the ear'ole if you ain't careful. Don't act so wet.
1924 P. Marks Plastic Age 94
They attended a performance of Shaw's ‘Candida’ given by the Dramatic Society and voted it a ‘wet’ show.
1924 P. Marks Plastic Age 192
A man is wet if he isn't a ‘regular guy’; he is wet if he isn't ‘smooth’; he is wet if he has intellectual interests..; and he is wet..if he is utterly stupid.
1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart ii. iv. 239
Cecil is so wet! Coming early like that, then sticking round like that.
1944 A. Christie Towards Zero 86
Audrey marry that wet fish? She's a lot too good for that.
1963 Amer. Speech 38 173
An unattractive female date... Ugliness..ranges from such general terms as beast..to the more specific bear, cow, goose, moose, roach.., squirrel, and wet fish.
1969 K. Amis Green Man iv. 180
The Jesus of the Gospels can be a bit of a wet liberal at times.
1973 P. O'Donnell Silver Mistress iv. 74
Don't talk wet, Jan. There's nothing you could do.
1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 Nov. 1355/2
The contrast between the splendid façade and the rather wet interior of the man [sc. Havelock Ellis], who was kind and gentle and distinguished, but also distressingly absent, indifferent and faint.
1981 Observer 26 July 12/3
The term ‘Wet’ was originally used by Mrs Thatcher, who meant it in the old sense of ‘soppy’, as in ‘What do you mean the unions won't like it, Jim? Don't be so wet.’ It meant feeble, liable to take the easy option, lacking intellectual and political hardness. Like so many insults, it was gleefully adopted by its victims, and so came by its present meaning of liberal, leftish, anti-ideological.
1982 Listener 23 Dec. 6/3
In considering the promotion of wet (or wettish) Ministers, she will tell herself that Pope was right.
1983 Age
(Melbourne)
5 Oct. 13
Britain's Tory Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, began this vogue terminology by contemptously dismissing dewy-eyed dissenters from her arid Right-wing policies as ‘wet’.
1916—1983(Hide quotations)
c. all wet: mistaken, completely wrong. Originally and chiefly U.S.
1923 N.Y. Times 9 Sept. vii. 2/1
All wet, all wrong.
1931 Kansas City
(Missouri)
Times 29 Aug.
Alfalfa Bill Murray may be ‘all wet’ in his state-line bridge and oil production controversies.
1940 G. Ade Let. 5 June
(1973)
221
Regarding the Rotary Clubs, I..am an honorary member. I think the organization is alright and that Sinclair Lewis was all wet when he tried to poke fun at the small town booster.
1941 E. B. White Lett.
(1976)
216
I haven't had much time to think things over and I am probably all wet on a lot of things in here.
1951 A. Baron Rosie Hogarth 282
You're all wet if you think I'm giving up that easy.
1923—1951(Hide quotations)
d. wet behind the ears: see ear n.1 Phrases 1b(b).
16.
a. Consisting of alcoholic liquor.
1779 Remembrancer 8 277
Saturday last arrived here from Cadiz, a polacre, with a large and general assortment of dry and wet goods.
1837 J. Cottle Early Recoll. I. 320
I think he carries on a snug business in the smuggling line, and..is on the look-out for some wet cargo.
1882 Daily News 31 Jan. 2/1
The central office for ‘wet goods’, i.e. wines and spirits.
1884 Chambers's Jrnl. 26 Jan. 58/2
Casks of vinous liquors, technically known as ‘wet goods’.
1779—1884(Hide quotations)
b. Concerned with the sale and consumption of alcoholic liquor.
1892 Daily News 7 Apr. 3/6
Dividing the receipts at the music-halls..as they are named in the trade ‘Wet Money’ and ‘Dry Money’ [i.e. money paid for refreshments, and for admission].
1899 H. Wyndham Queen's Service 97
Canteens..are known as either ‘wet’ or ‘dry’. In the former, beer, porter, and stout, but no spirits, are sold.
1899 H. Wyndham Queen's Service 98
The hours during which ‘wet’ Canteens are open.
1913 R. H. Gretton Mod. Hist. Eng. People I. 90
Whereas at ports the customs arrangement allowed ‘bonding’ on a large scale, there was no such possibility in inland towns, except in some ‘wet’ trades.
1892—1913(Hide quotations)
c. Originally and chiefly U.S. Permitting the sale of alcoholic liquor: accepting or adhering to this as a principle; opposed to the prohibition of the liquor traffic. Hence as quasi-adv. in to go or vote wet . Cf. dry adj. 11a.
1871 Scribner's Monthly 1 63
Dry or wet, Mr. Dort? Indifferent, eh? Adolph, a hock-glass.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. liv. 350
Some States, e.g. Georgia, have adopted a local option system, under which each county decides whether it will be ‘wet’ or ‘dry’ (e.g. [sic] permit or forbid the sale of intoxicants).
1888 North Amer.
(Philadelphia)
3 Apr. 1/1
Forty-nine counties have voted ‘dry’, and thirty-three ‘wet’... Thirteen of twenty towns went ‘dry’, and seven ‘wet’.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 20 May 12/1
A map of the United States, with prohibition States white, licence States black, and States partly ‘dry’ and partly ‘wet’ under local option indicated by shading.
1919 H. L. Wilson Ma Pettengill 36
Like a cow~hand with three month's pay hitting a wet town.
1954 K. Amis Lucky Jim 109
The still recent tradition of a ‘wet’ Summer Ball.
1974 Times 7 Oct. 4/1
Flintshire, Radnorshire, Breconshire..voted to go wet.
1974 Times 7 Oct. 4/2
That poll ended the curious situation of one inn which straddled on the wet-dry border... The public bar was dry and empty, but the lounge bar was wet and crowded.
1871—1974(Hide quotations)
d. absol. or quasi-n. (from preceding sense).
1888 Battle Creek
(Mich.)
Weekly Jrnl. 29 Feb.
This is the first great victory for the ‘wets’.
1896 Chicago Record 11 Feb. 6/5
Even though there might be some precincts where the ‘wets’ outnumbered the ‘drys’—yet the whole county would go dry.
1906 Mission Field Aug. 144
The ‘wets’ would carry such cities as Guthrie, Oklahoma City and Shawnee.
1919 Blackwood's Mag. Nov. 657/1
The party calling themselves ‘The Wets’ still believed that the President would intervene to avert such legislation.
1920 A. G. Gardiner Windfalls 17
The wasp..shares man's weakness for beer. In the language of America, he is a ‘wet’.
1968 Daily Tel. 8 Nov. 1/4
The ‘wets’ gained three counties..in the Welsh referendum on Sunday drinking.
1888—1968(Hide quotations)
17.
a. Designating various technical processes or operations.
1807 A. Aikin & C. R. Aikin Dict. Chem. & Mineral. II. 427
Tin is soluble in acid of tartar, and this solution is of importance in manufacture, as it is the method by which wet tinning is performed on copper and brass.
1854 C. Tomlinson Obj. Art-Manuf.: Paper 24
The paper..is subjected to a second pressure, called wet pressing, by which a further portion of the water is got rid of.
1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany 6
The wet collodion process.
1878 W. de W. Abney Treat. Photogr. vii. 50
The following are collodions..for the wet process.
1882 Imperial Dict.
Wet-puddling, in metallurgy, pig-boiling.
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. II. 989
The dangers consequent upon the manufacture of arsenic have been much diminished..by what is technically known as the ‘wet method’.
1807—1897(Hide quotations)
b. Designating chemical tests and analysis involving the use of solvents or other liquids; = humid adj. c; so wet-chemical adj. Cf. way n.1 17c.
1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange Man. Course Chem. I. 398
Analysis by the wet way.
1858 London, Edinb. & Dublin Philos. Mag. 16 331
This method is particularly adapted..when the substances of this group occur in so small quantities that they are no longer recognizable in the wet way.
1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 70/2
A convenient wet-way method for small quantities is to boil the recently precipitated chloride..with caustic soda-ley.
1932 F. Soddy Interpr. Atom xv. 253
Almost all the ordinary chemical tests for the common elements, by which they are identified in the ordinary reactions of ‘wet’ analysis, are not tests for the elements, but for their ions.
1967 Electronics 6 Mar. 29
(advt.)
You can be sure of a complete refinery service... Including, under one roof..laboratory facilities for wet chemical analysis and electrolytic methods of analysis.
1973 Nature 8 June 365/1
Since the Second World War, physical methods of analysis..have increasingly displaced wet chemistry from the industrial routine analytical laboratory.
1977 New Scientist 17 Feb. 384/1
Traditional methods of detecting nitrogen oxides as air pollutants monitor the change in colour of an acid permanganate solution as the oxides are absorbed. These wet-chemical methods..require relatively large samples of gases.
1800—1977(Hide quotations)
18. Nautical. Of a vessel: Liable to ship water over the bows or gunwale.
1832 F. Marryat Newton Forster I. x. 132
She was what sailors term rather a wet one, and..the sea broke continually over her bows.
1884 W. C. Russell Jack's Courtship xvii
The Strathmore..had the reputation of being a very fast sailer, though what is termed a wet ship.
1891 M. Roberts Land-travel & Sea-faring 9
The Seringapatam was a very ‘wet ship’, that is, she was very much inclined to ship heavy seas.
1832—1891(Hide quotations)
19. Of natural gas: containing significant amounts of the vapour of higher hydrocarbons.
1926 Daily Colonist
(Victoria, Brit. Columbia)
18 July 16/7
Wet gas flow of 3,000,000 feet a day was struck at McLeod No. 2 well in Turner Valley last night.
1948 Petroleum Handbk.
(Shell Petroleum Co. Ltd.)
(ed. 3)
ix. 154
Gases produced in contact with oil can be either ‘dry’ or ‘wet’, depending on the nature of the crude oil and the method of separating the gas from the oil.
1982 Shell Briefing Service No. 5. 5/2
LPG is essentially a mixture of propane and butane stored at ambient temperature under moderate pressure. It can be derived from the gas associated with crude oil or from ‘wet’ natural gas directly at the well.
1926—1982(Hide quotations)
Compounds
C1. In combination with past participles.
a. Predicative.
wet-crushed adj.
1877 R. W. Raymond Statistics Mines & Mining 419
The cost of drying the wet-crushed ore.
1877—1877(Hide quotations)
wet-picked adj.
1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 225/2
It [esparto] is again ‘wet-picked’ after boiling.
1885—1885(Hide quotations)
wet-plucked adj.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 19 Jan. (Suppl.) 41/3
At slaughter the birds are all..wet-plucked by machine and then eviscerated.
1969 R. Adlard in R. Blythe Akenfield xiv. 234
The feathers are no use because the chickens [in factory farms] are wet-plucked, so there is only a mess.
1960—1969(Hide quotations)
wet salted adj.
1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 274/1
Hides brought to the tannery in this condition are known as ‘wet salted’.
1885—1885(Hide quotations)
wet situated adj.
1762 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. iv. iv. 412
When clay land is wet situated.
1762—1762(Hide quotations)
wet woaded adj.
1660 T. Fuller Mixt Contempl. i. xlix. 76
What may be the cause why so much cloth so soon changeth colour? It is because it was never wet wadded, which giveth the fixation to a colour.
1660—1660(Hide quotations)
b. Parasynthetic.
wet-bottomed adj.
1812 J. Sinclair Acct. Syst. Husbandry Scotl. i. 222
Wet-bottomed land.
1886 C. Scott Pract. Sheep-farming 89
Much wet-bottomed land..is ill suited for rearing lambs.
1812—1886(Hide quotations)
wet-eyed adj.
1820 L. Hunt in Indicator 22 Nov. 53
Never woman [came] for redress, And went away wet-eyed.
1892 T. Hardy Tess
(ed. 5)
xl. 346
He knelt down at the bedside wet-eyed.
1820—1892(Hide quotations)
wet-feeted adj.
1864 C. Dickens Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy i, in All Year Round Extra Christmas No., 1 Dec. 4/2
It was in vain for me to..tell him he'd be..wet-feeted to death by the slop and mess.
1864—1864(Hide quotations)
wet-footed adj.
1833 T. Hood Public Dinner 174
Wet-footed, spoilt-beaver'd,..You haste home to supper.
1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. vi
She has come home wet-footed and cold.
1833—1856(Hide quotations)
wet-lipped adj.
1870 W. Morris Earthly Paradise: Pt. IV 232
The wet-lipped west wind.
1870—1870(Hide quotations)
wet mouthed adj.
1951 D. Thomas Let. in Sel. Lett.
(1966)
352
[Fresh recruits] see before them in the hot moonlight wetmouthed Persian girls from the bazaar.
1951—1951(Hide quotations)
C2. Special collocations (see also 13).
wetback n. originally and chiefly U.S. an illegal immigrant who crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico to the U.S.; also attributive and transferred.
1929 Foreign Affairs Oct. 101
The peon walks or swims across..and is welcomed by his countrymen here as a ‘wet back’.
1972 Observer 28 May (Colour Suppl.) 28/1
Last year in California alone, border patrols turned back 27,000 wetbacks (the contemptuous name derives from their practice of swimming the Rio Grande to reach the US).
1978 N.Y. Times Mag. 23 July 23/2
Wetbacks (a derogation of Mexicans swimming the Rio Grande to slip into the U.S.) became illegal aliens, and are now referred to as undocumented persons.
1979 Guardian 8 June 5/2
Illegal migrants from South China..are getting into Hong Kong..usually swimming the last part of the trip. The total of Chinese ‘wetbacks’ intercepted..in the first week of June alone came to 3,722.
1982 T. Beattie Diamonds xii. 100
It might be that wetback job I did... But they can't prove anything.
1929—1982(Hide quotations)
wet bar n. North American a bar or counter in a private house from which alcoholic drinks are served.
1968 Globe & Mail
(Toronto)
15 Jan. 23/6
(advt.)
Panelled family room, games room, wet bar. Real executive home!
1978 R. Thomas Chinaman's Chance xx. 206
Ploughman turned to find Reginald Simms standing by a small wet bar across the room.
1968—1978(Hide quotations)
wet bargain n. (see bargain n.1 7).
wet bob n. [Bob n.7] a boy at Eton who devotes himself to boating; also gen.
1865 W. L. Collins Etoniana xi. 172
Of course a ‘dry-bob’ boats occasionally, and a ‘wet-bob’ plays cricket.
1872 Daily News 7 Aug.
The ‘wetbobs’ of the Solent are not so absolutely the creatures of the weather office as the ‘drybobs’ of Canterbury.
1886 Sat. Rev. 27 Mar. 438/1
We are not even informed whether he is a wet bob or a dry bob.
1901 D. B. W. Sladen My Son Richard i
Only on the river they have this much mutual respect for each other—each recognises that the other is a good wetbob.
1865—1901(Hide quotations)
wet bob v. (intransitive).
1884 J. Montagu Let. Mar. in L. Troubridge & ‘A. Marshall’ John Ld. Montagu of Beaulieu
(1930)
31
I have been out wet-bobbing several times and am getting coached.
1884—1884(Hide quotations)
wet-bobbing n.
1901 G. Frankau Eton Echoes 40
(heading)
Wet Bobbing.
1926 Spectator 3 July 11/1
Any alternative summer game or sport..such as is provided by ‘wet-bobbing’ at a school like Eton.
1901—1926(Hide quotations)
wet-bulb n. designation of that one of the two thermometers of a psychrometer the bulb of which is covered with muslin, which is wetted at the time of observation so as to indicate the ‘temperature of evaporation’.
1849 E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 228
The wet-bulb Thermometer was generally 10° lower than the dry one till the beginning of June.
1916 Lancet 15 Jan. 142/2
A man..can do far more work with less fatigue at a low wet-bulb temperature than at a high one.
1849—1916(Hide quotations)
† wet cloth n. Obsolete cloth that has been wetted in the process of fulling.
1435 Coventry Leet Bk. 172
No walker..Shall Rakke no Clothe on the Teyntur that schall be solde ffor wette-clothe.
1439 Rolls of Parl. V. 30/2
Mesurynge for the dosenne of wete Clothe xii yerdes and xii ynches, and of secce Clothe nought wete, xiiii yerdes and xiiii ynches.
1435—1439(Hide quotations)
wet cooper n. (see cooper n.1 1).
wet day n. Meteorology (see quot.).
1919 Brit. Rainfall 15
A Wet Day is a day ending at 9 h. (G. M. T.) on which 1 mm., or ·04 in., or more, of rain is recorded.
1919—1919(Hide quotations)
wet diggings n. originally U.S. gold diggings in or near a river or stream; cf. dry diggings n. at dry adj. and adv. Compounds 3.
1849 J. Wyld Geogr. & Mineral. Notes 21
The works are divided into two classes,—Dry Diggings and Wet Diggings.
1862 J. L. C. Richardson Sketch Otago 48
See how the wet diggings will pay in the summer time.
1935 E. B. Buckbee Saga Old Tuolumne 11
He worked ceaselessly throughout the day lifting gold from the ‘wet diggings’.
1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. vii. 72/1
The conglomerates accumulated on the slopes of the mountains are the proper field for the ‘dry diggings’, while from the gravel and sand of the beds of rivers and smaller streams the gold is obtained by ‘wet diggings’.
1849—1965(Hide quotations)
wet dream n. an erotic dream which causes a man or boy to have an involuntary sexual orgasm during sleep; also figurative.
1851 W. Acton Dis. Urinary & Generative Organs
(ed. 2)
i. ii. 226
Spermatorrhœa..is known..as nocturnal or diurnal emissions, pollutions, wet-dreams, [etc.].
1921 H. Crane Let. 11 Feb.
(1965)
53
The wet-dream explosions of Virgil Jordan and McAlmon. Their talk is all right—but what is true of it has been said adequately before.
1946 B. Marshall George Brown's Schooldays 170
Well, what are you standing there looking like a wet dream for?
1963 A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex ii. 16
It is at this stage that nocturnal emissions or ‘wet dreams’ as they are often called, are frequently the first clear sign of sexual maturity in the boy.
1971 B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect 10
Jesus, what a wet dream of a party that was!
1978 A. Neave Nuremberg viii. 86
He was said by the prosecution to have boasted to his chauffeur of nightly wet dreams and exhibited the semen to prove it.
1851—1978(Hide quotations)
wet-eared adj. = wet behind the ears at ear n.1 Phrases 1b(b).
1967 ‘E. McGirr’ Hearse with Horses iii. 50
If a race was fixed they wouldn't need a wet-eared kid mixed up with it.
1971 F. Forsyth Day of Jackal i. i. 21
Apart from a few wet-eared ninnies who refused to come, Rodin led his entire battalion into the military putsch of April 1961.
1967—1971(Hide quotations)
wet end n. that end of a paper-making or drying machine into which the wet material is passed.
1888 C. F. Cross & E. J. Bevan Text-bk. Paper-making x. 154
This part of the machine, which is called the ‘wet-end’, is placed at a slight slope.
1927 T. Woodhouse Artificial Silk: Manuf. & Uses iii. 25
The wet pulp is now run on to the feed end, usually termed the ‘wet~end’, of the drying machine.
1962 F. T. Day Introd. to Paper iv. 36
The beginning of the paper making machine is described as the ‘wet end’, whilst the other end of the machine, which consists of drying cylinders and paper finishing calenders, is called the ‘dry end’.
1888—1962(Hide quotations)
wet fly n. Angling (see quot. 1875); also attributive.
1875 F. Francis in Encycl. Brit. II. 38/2
In the majority of instances it is the custom to let the tackle soak, and when fishing to allow the fly to sink a little under the surface—to fish with a ‘wet fly’, as it is called.
1904 W. M. Gallichan Fishing & Trav. Spain 207
The ordinary winged patterns used for wet-fly fishing.
1875—1904(Hide quotations)
wet frost n. a frost accompanied by damp air.
1832 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Weekly Polit. Reg. 13 Oct. 74
Wall-fruit is, when destroyed in the spring, never destroyed by dry-cold; but, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, by wet-frosts.
1832—1832(Hide quotations)
† wet glover n. Obsolete (see glover n.1 2).
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 86/2
The Wett-Glover.
1704 Dict. Rusticum
Wet-glover..is a Country Trade for the most part, answerable to the Tanner.
1724 London Gaz. No. 6249/7
Humphry Topping..Wet Glover.
1688—1724(Hide quotations)
† wet larder n. Obsolete one where moist or liquid provisions were stored.
1544 Inventory in Surrey Archæol. Coll.
(1880)
VII. 238
The dry larder... The Kechyn... The Whet larder. Itm in the Wett larder A musterd quern, iiij d.
1574 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond
(1853)
247
In the wett larder ii kymlinges, one trowghe.
1605 in Archaeologia 13 330
The Clarcke of the Kittchine..is to see into the wette and drie larders, what provisions there bee.
1544—1605(Hide quotations)
wet lease v. (transitive) .
1962 Aeroplane & Astronautics CII. 88/2
Philippine Air Lines has wet-leased (i.e., aircraft plus flight crew) a Boeing 707 from Pan American.
1977 Indian Express 18 May 1/2
The Airbus will be either wet leased or chartered by Air-India.
1962—1977(Hide quotations)
wet lease n. (see quot. 1979).
1979 Daily Tel. 8 June 36/6
Aircraft can be leased by the hour, day, week, month, quarterly or longer on a ‘dry’ lease which means that crews are not provided, or on a ‘wet’ lease which means that the owner of the aircraft also supplies crew and, in some cases, the necessary fuel.
1979—1979(Hide quotations)
wet-leased adj.
1978 Observer 29 Jan. 1/5
These too will have to be taken out of service for modifications, and their place taken by ‘wet leased’ foreign aircraft (that is, planes taken complete with their own crews).
1978—1978(Hide quotations)
wet leg n. slang a self-pitying person.
1922 D. H. Lawrence Let. ?12 Oct.
(1962)
II. 726
Being too much of a wet-leg, as they say in England, nakedly to enter into the battle.
1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 124
It is strange to think of the Annas, the Vronskys, the Pierres, all the Tolstoyan lot Wiped out... And the Tchekov wimbly-wambly wet-legs all wiped out.
1981 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 July 745/1
We know how much Auden hated wet-legs, how constantly he repeated his many litanies of his own good fortune.
1922—1981(Hide quotations)
wet look n. [look n. 4] an appearance of a wet or shiny surface; usually attributive, esp. of fabrics (see quot. 1968).
1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 102
The ‘Wet Look’ is a chemical finish to fabrics to make them appear shiny and wet.
1969 Times 24 Nov. 16/2
Natural coloured python or wet-look patent are the most fashionable finishes for day.
1970 D. Uhnak Ledger
(1971)
ix. 114
Her lips, shining with a wet-look lipstick, quivered.
1971 Daily Tel. 2 Feb. 11
(caption)
The chair and stool covered in white wet-look fabric.
1981 Westindian World 31 July 14/2
(advt.)
Hot & cold straightening, curly perm, wet look.
1968—1981(Hide quotations)
wet meter n. a gas-meter in which the gas passes through a body of water.
c1865 H. Letheby in J. Wylde Circle of Sci. I. 127/1
There are two objections to the wet meter, which are insurmountable.
1870 Cassell's Househ. Guide II. 17/2
The gas meters now in general use..are known as ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ meters.
c1865—1870(Hide quotations)
wet pack n. a compact waterproof bag which folds or rolls up and is designed for carrying toilet articles.
1928–9 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 419/1
Wet Pack. Fitted with comb and nail file, etc. Size closed, 51/
2 × 41/
2 in... Pigskin 12/–.
1974 Harrods Christmas Catal. 18/2
For travelling men... Two wet packs with waterproof linings.
1928—1974(Hide quotations)
wet plate n. Photography a sensitized collodion plate exposed in the camera while the collodion is moist; also attributive.
1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany 123
Our camera, already charged with a wet plate.
1878 W. de W. Abney Treat. Photogr. xi. 77
Wet-plate photography.
1859—1878(Hide quotations)
wet-point adj. of villages, settlements, etc.: having an available water supply.
1920 M. Aurousseau in Geogr. Rev. 10 228
We have two special cases of arrangements governed by water supply—the extreme conditions giving rise to what we will term wet point villages and dry point villages.
1969 G. C. Dickinson Maps & Air Photographs xiv. 216
(heading)
‘Wet-point’ sites—i.e. places with an available water supply.
1920—1969(Hide quotations)
wet process n. a manufacturing process involving the use of water or other liquid; frequently attributive.
1909 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang.
Wet... Chem., etc. Employing, or done by means of, or in the presence of, water or other liquid... The wet process or way.
1930 Engineering 3 Jan. 18/3
The Assano Portland Cement Company's works at Nishitama. This is a wet-process plant.
1945 H. D. Smyth Gen. Acct. Devel. Atomic Energy Mil. Purposes vii. 75
Study of product recovery processes as a whole (wet processes, physical methods).
1969 Nature 27 Dec. 1297/2
By-product gypsum formed during the wet process manufacture of phosphoric acid contains various impurities.
1909—1969(Hide quotations)
wet rent n. a levy paid to a brewery by a publican in a tied public house in proportion to the amount of beer sold (see also quot. 1907).
1907 F. E. E. Bell At Wks. v. 122
Some of the yearly benefit clubs of which the head-quarters are at public-houses demand..an extra contribution, from 1d. to 3d., what is called the ‘wet rent’, which is quite deliberately allowed for drink each meeting-night.
1967 Economist 29 Apr. 480/2
The Jones board has implicitly accused the brewers of subsidising too many low volume country pubs, by charging less than the market rents but rather more for their beer, a practice known in the trade as a ‘wet rent’. In actual fact, wet rents are steadily becoming proportionately less important, and the brewer's idea is to protect the publican against the ups and downs of trade by charging him, in effect, a rent that varies slightly with beer sales, thus identifying his interest more closely with that of the brewer.
1978 Times 3 May 19/6
The brewers..continue phasing out ‘wet’ rents under which a tenant pays more or less to the brewery according to the amount of beer sold through the pub.
1907—1978(Hide quotations)
wet rot n. decay in timber caused by excessive moisture.
1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend
(1865)
I. i. viii. 73
Sparrows were there, cats were there, dry-rot and wet-rot were there.
1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 161
Wet-rot is the destructive agent at work more or less on all telegraph poles.
1864—1876(Hide quotations)
† wet-salter n. Obsolete (in contrast to drysalter n.).
1725 D. Defoe Compl. Eng. Tradesman I. viii. 98
The orange-merchants and wet-salters about Billingsgate.
1725—1725(Hide quotations)
wet shave n. a shave (shave n.2 2) carried out with the aid of a razor, soap, and water as opposed to a (usually electric) razor alone.
1976 NBR Marketplace
(Wellington, N.Z.)
iii. 2/1
Something over 50 per cent of the estimated 900,000 regular shavers in New Zealand prefer a wet shave start to the day.
1976—1976(Hide quotations)
wet shaver n. someone who shaves by this method.
1976 NBR Marketplace
(Wellington, N.Z.)
iii. 2/3
About 94 per cent of wet shavers use the safety razor with double-edge blades or the modern single-edge blade systems.
1976—1976(Hide quotations)
wet shaving n.
1964 Financial Times 25 Feb. 11/8
The chief obstacle at present is the wet-shaving industry's promotion of the new stainless steel blades.
1980 ‘D. Kavanagh’ Duffy iii. 44
They only took the television set and his electric razor... He went back to wet shaving.
1964—1980(Hide quotations)
wet smack n. slang (chiefly U.S.) a spoil-sport.
1927 Amer. Speech 3 221
Wet smack,..something unsatisfactory; applies particularly to an individual who spoils a party; a kill-joy.
1929 P. G. Wodehouse Mr. Mulliner Speaking i. 33
The man is beyond question a flat tyre and a wet smack.
1977 Maledicta Summer 17
If she is actually frigid, she's a wet smack.
1927—1977(Hide quotations)
wet spell n. Meteorology (see quot.).
1919 Brit. Rainfall 15
A Wet Spell is a period of fifteen or more consecutive days, each one of which is a ‘Wet Day’.
1919—1919(Hide quotations)
wet-spin v. (transitive) .
1963 A. J. Hall Student's Handbk. Textile Sci. ii. 75
Some of these polymers are soluble in organic solvents..and thus allow the preparation of solutions which can be dry spun..or wet spun—that is, extruded into a coagulating bath.
1973 Materials & Technol. VI. iv. 328
Polyacrylonitrile solutions have been wet-spun..into a coagulating bath.
1963—1973(Hide quotations)
wet spinning n. (a) spinning of natural fibres when they are wet from passage through a water bath; (b) spinning of man-made fibres in which the spinneret extrudes the streams of liquid into a coagulating bath.
1864 A. J. Warden Linen Trade v. 697
Wet spinning differs chiefly from..dry spinning in having the spinning frame furnished with a receptacle for holding water.
1919 Brit. Manufacturer Nov. 27/1
The fibres are drawn out..before passing through a trough of warm water—which dissolves the gummy connecting matter and enables finer yarns to be produced—to be tightly twisted into yarn or thread. This is known as ‘wet-spinning’.
1927 T. Woodhouse Artificial Silk: Manuf. & Uses 28
The coagulation by means of liquid of any kind has given rise to the term ‘wet spinning’, whereas the term ‘dry-spinning’ has been applied in all cases where the solvent is vaporized.
1969 A. J. Hall Standard Handbk. Textiles
(ed. 7)
iii. 127
In wet spinning the roving is led through a trough of hot water..so that the fibres are softened.
1864—1969(Hide quotations)
wet-spun adj.
1973 Materials & Technol. VI. iv. 295
Another method of taking up the wet spun yarn.
1973—1973(Hide quotations)
wet steam n. (see quot.).
1858 R. Murray Marine Engines
(ed. 3)
237
Wet steam is steam which holds watery particles in mechanical suspension.
1858—1858(Hide quotations)
wet strength n. the strength of paper and textiles when wet.
1960 R. W. Marks Dymaxion World Buckminster Fuller 59/1
Even in 1954 Kraft paper having exceptional ‘wet tensile strength’ had been developed—‘wet strength’ meaning the ability of the paper to retain its structural quality when saturated.
1962 J. T. Marsh Self-smoothing Fabrics xiv. 211
These examples of dimensional stability are of some consequence, and indeed of great consequence with fibres of regenerated cellulose whose low wet-strength is a serious defect but one which is remedied by the crease-resisting process.
1973 Nature 27 Apr. 588/1
Cross linking has been used for over thirty years in making ‘wet strength’ papers.
1960—1973(Hide quotations)
wetsuit n. a suit, usually of rubber, worn by divers, surfers, etc., to protect them from the cold.
1955 R. Carrier & B. Carrier Dive iv. 118
Rubber suits have been designed to protect the diver from the effects of cold water. There are two basic types..the ‘wet suit’ and the ‘dry suit’.
1964 Skin Diver Oct. 19
An American skin diver aboard an Irish fishing boat..had a difficult time convincing the skipper that his ‘wet’ suit would save a man's life if he fell into the freezing water.
1970 Daily Tel. 18 Sept. (Colour Suppl.) 12
On deck three of us, clad in rubber wetsuits, prepared to slip over the side.
1972 Islander
(Victoria, Brit. Columbia)
4 June 16/1
The wet suit, worn to keep the diver warm, is almost a necessity in these northern waters.
1984 S. Townsend Growing Pains Adrian Mole 78
She looked dead erotic in her black wetsuit and crash helmet.
1955—1984(Hide quotations)
wetsuited adj.
1972 National Geographic Oct. 584
Wet-suited author examines the giant wraparound grin of a right whale.
1978 D. Williams Treasure up in Smoke xix. 174
The alerted wet-suited figure had..waded to the beach.
1972—1978(Hide quotations)
wet time n. in the building trade, time during which work cannot be carried out owing to bad weather.
1938 Times 5 May 10/4
For nearly 20 years the building trade operatives have..claimed that for uncontrollable irregularities of employment..there should be a scheme of compensation for loss of earnings. The phrase which they used to focus the claim was ‘payment for wet time’.
1952 Economist 12 July 118/2
Steel erectors on American building sites do not enjoy either a guaranteed week or payment for ‘wet-time’.
1938—1952(Hide quotations)
wet trade n. (see quots.).
1962 Listener 26 July 154/3
The ‘do-it-yourself’ enthusiast who is preparing to tackle garden operations involving the use of cement, lime, and water—the so-called ‘wet trades’.
1973 Times 24 Feb. 13/1
The shortage of skilled workers, particularly in the ‘wet trades’ of bricklaying and plastering.
1962—1973(Hide quotations)
wet-weather adj. (a) associated with or occurring in rainy weather; (b) designed for use in rainy weather.
1858 T. S. Woodward Let. 20 Dec. in Reminisc.
(1939)
157
Fortunately, we found a little wet-weather spring near the top.
1901 [see sense 2e].
1922 E. von Arnim Enchanted April i. 8
Big grey eyes almost disappearing under a smashed-down wet-weather hat.
1934 M. V. Hughes London Child of Seventies iii. 28
The boys were off on some long wet~weather tramp.
1978 ‘D. Rutherford’ Collision Course 182
I'm gambling on rain... We're giving you wet~weather tyres.
1858—1978(Hide quotations)
wet-white n. liquid white theatrical make-up.
1922 M. Arlen ‘Piracy’ iii. xiv. 256
Just look how depraved they are! They are covered with verdigris, but they call it wet-white!
1976 ‘D. Fletcher’ Don't whistle ‘Macbeth’ 51
The first time I sang Elvira, I had to cover myself from head to toe with wet-white.
1922—1976(Hide quotations)
wet wing n. Aeronautics (see quot. 1969); usually attributive.
[1958 Flying Rev. Oct. 37/1
Scheduled to Supplement earlier Stratofortresses currently serving with the Strategic Air Command, the B-52G employs a ‘wet’ integral-tank wing which substantially increases the bomber's unrefuelled range.]
1961 Flight 79 818/2
These new ‘wet wing’ versions, with greatly increased weight and machined-plank wing skins, have suffered local stresses greater than any experienced with the earlier versions of lower weight and performance.
1969 New Scientist 25 Sept. (Microbes in Industry Suppl.) 23/2
In modern ‘wet-wing’ aircraft, such as Concorde, the fuel is simply pumped into the wings which are coated internally with sealants. In older aircraft..the fuel is contained in rubber bags in the wings.
1961—1969(Hide quotations)
Draft additions March 2016
wet market n. South-East Asian a market for the sale of fresh meat, fish, and produce.
1978 Straits Times
(Singapore)
13 July 9/3
The Trade Department is reluctant to introduce the sale of frozen fish in ‘wet’ markets for fear of profiteering by hawkers.
1999 Business Times
(Malaysia)
(Electronic ed.)
27 Feb. 3
Central Market rides on steadily, thanks to its unique historical background—from wet market to a must-visit tourist complex.
2001 BusinessWorld
(Philippines)
(Nexis)
18 Oct. 4
The wholesale price of regular-milled rice in the major Manila wet markets was Php16.53 per kilo.
2014 Food & Wine Sept. 58/3
Three Parisians..opened this French-Japanese restaurant in a wet market. Perfect example of old-meets-new Hong Kong.
1978—2014(Hide quotations)
Draft additions June 2015
wet wipe n. a disposable tissue or cloth moistened with a cleansing agent, used for cleaning or personal hygiene; cf. baby wipe n. at baby n. and adj. Compounds 1g.
1966 P. E. Riely & L. S. Gall Effect Diet & Atmosphere on Intestinal & Skin Flora (NASA Contractor Rep. CR-662) II. 17
Only ‘wet wipes’ were allowed and were limited to three a day for hand wiping following eating and defecation.
1983 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 16 July 160/1
Sufferers..will easily be persuaded always to carry sachets or drums of wet wipes with them when they travel.
2011 C. Moran How to be Woman
(2012)
iii. 63
My husband approached her nethers, tentatively, with a wet-wipe.
1966—2011(Hide quotations)
