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Gerard Egan
Robert J. Reese
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The Skilled Helper: A Client-Centred © 2021, Cengage Learning EMEA
Approach, 3rd EMEA Edition
Adapted from The Skilled Helper: A Problem-Management and
US authors: Gerard Egan, Robert J. Reese Opportunity-Development Approach to Helping, 11th Edition, by
Adapter: Helen Nicholas Gerard Egan & Robert J. Reese. Copyright © Cengage Learning,
Inc., 2019. All Rights Reserved.
Senior Content Project Manager: Phillipa The Authors and the Adapter have asserted the right under the
Davidson-Blake Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as Authors and
Adapter of this Work.
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emea.info@cengage.com
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queries, email emea.permissions@cengage.com
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-4737-7491-9
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BRIEF CONTENTS
Prefacexii
Acknowledgementsxv
iii
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CONTENTS
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CONTENTS v
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vi CONTENTS
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CONTENTS vii
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viii CONTENTS
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CONTENTS ix
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x CONTENTS
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CONTENTS xi
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PREFACE
In this new third edition of the EMEA adaptation of Egan’s The Skilled Helper, all of the useful themes
developed over the past 40 years stay intact, including: the primacy of client focus; the importance of life-
enhancing client outcomes; the collaborative client–helper alliance; a problem-management and opportunity-
development approach; the essential communication skills needed for effective client–helper dialogue; an
emphasis on the values that drive the helping process, the importance of diversity. One of the important
updates to this edition is a new co-author, Jeff Reese, who brings with him a strong research background.
Overview
The book has four parts. Part I deals with the key ingredients, the ‘power of basics’ approach, the role of the
therapist, the importance of the helping relationship and the values that drive the entire helping process. Part II
focuses exclusively on the communication skills therapists need to engage in a collaborative, outcome-focused
dialogue with clients. Part III deals in detail with the problem-management and opportunity-development
approach. Part IV includes useful counselling skills exercises for helpers to practise with, and an annotated
extract of a counselling conversation.
The book uses a version of the ‘common factors’ approach to understanding successes in therapy. The
common factors research is a search for ‘what works’ in therapy (Duncan, Miller, Wampold & Hubble,
2010), that is, those key ingredients and the ‘power of basics’ that are essential to successful therapy no
matter which approach(es) to therapy the helper uses. For instance, research shows, not surprisingly, that
a strong working alliance or therapeutic relationship between client and helper contributes greatly to the
successful outcomes in therapy. In this book, these factors are called ‘the ingredients of successful therapy’.
xii
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PREFACE xiii
The ingredients that are pulled together include and move a bit beyond the ones described by Duncan et al.
(2010). Naming them and describing what they have to offer clients provides greater crispness and focus to
the problem-management and opportunity-development approach to therapy outlined in this book.
The approach in this edition underscores the importance of the CDOI (client-directed, outcome-informed)
movement in the helping professions (Bohart & Tallman, 2010). Life-enhancing outcomes for clients
constitute the backbone of therapy. In this edition there is a heightened emphasis on clients and all that they
bring with them to the therapeutic encounter and on the importance of ‘keeping the client in the driver’s seat’
throughout the helping process.
Feedback – client to self, client to helper, helper to client and helper to self, together with the give-and-take
discussions these forms of feedback evoke – is presented as one of the basics for successful therapy. This kind
of feedback has always been a theme in previous editions, but research has demonstrated how essential it is
to successful therapy. Feedback on progress towards desired outcomes and on how each session contributes
(or does not contribute) to progress belongs in every session.
The Standard Problem Management Model, which is found, directly or indirectly, in practically
every form of therapy, organises all the skills, methods and themes of successful helping. The
problem-management process is not about schools of psychology, interesting theories or the latest fads.
It is about people with problem situations and unused opportunities. This process – broadly speaking, a
contextual cognitive-behavioural-emotive approach to therapy – is presented as a valid treatment approach
in itself. It is also a tool of psychotherapy integration. Effective therapists appreciate the power of both goal
setting and planning even when the troubled person, or the world at large, does not.
Effective decision making (and its shadow side) lies at the heart of problem management and opportunity
development and, therefore, at the heart of therapy. It is now included as one of the key ingredients of
successful therapy and the main ‘power of basics’. Therapists help clients make various decisions throughout
the helping process. Effective helpers understand both the bright and dark side of decision making and
become guides as troubled people muse about, make, glide towards, flirt with, reflect on or fall into decisions –
or attempt to avoid them. They also help clients explore the possible unintended consequences of the
decisions they are making. Because decision making has a deep shadow side, the more therapists understand
its inner workings the better.
The essential uncertainties associated with human behaviour play an important role in therapy and
require helping approaches that are both rigorous and flexible. Both client-focused rigour and client-focused
flexibility in the use of models, methods and skills permeate the chapters of this book.
This edition further promotes the concept of ‘personal culture’, the way that each individual lives out the
beliefs, values and norms of the larger social culture. Diversity at the individual client level takes precedence
over any particular form of diversity such as multicultural diversity. The personal culture of each individual
client includes his or her incorporation and expression of ethnic and cultural themes, together with all the
other forms of diversity in his or her makeup. If social culture is ‘the ways we do things’, then personal
culture refers to ‘the way I do things’ as a member of any given culture.
The clinical use of research findings demonstrates that therapists do not have to choose between
evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence. If we are client-focused, then there is room
for both evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence. Either-or gives way to both-and. The
problem-management process is used as a ‘browser’ to search for a wide range of therapeutic methods
and adapt them to the needs of this client. Client-need drives the process.
The tendency of the helping industry to avoid the term ‘challenge’ is noted. There is increased focus on
invitations to clients to engage in self-challenge and the concept of helper self-challenge is covered. Therapy
is presented as a form of positive challenge in itself. If therapy is to make a difference, it must be different
from what happens in everyday life. Some form of challenge is part of this difference.
COVID-19
It is worth noting that during the editing of this edition of The Skilled Helper, the Coronavirus (COVID-19),
an international pandemic, affected the world on a global scale. As the world went into lockdown,
practitioners were not able to conduct face-to-face sessions with clients and had to adapt to offering
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xiv PREFACE
remote and online sessions. Several regulatory bodies came together to produce guidance, information
and webinars for their members on how to conduct effective video therapy. Task forces were formed to
discuss the issues surrounding COVID-19 and their professional members. The British Psychological Society
produced a webinar series to support their members with working online (www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/
free-webinar-gives-top-tips-effective-video-therapy). The Psychological Society of South Africa produced a
podcast series on COVID-19 on their PsyCAST medium (www.psyssa.com/psycast/); a multi-stakeholder
initiative for South African health care workers and a special edition of their Psytalk in March 2020 (psytalk.
psyssa.com/current-issue/). Resources for professionals were collated, for example the British Psychological
Society produced a number of useful documents on how to talk to children about the situation; parenting
while self-isolating; and documents to support their members (www.bps.org.uk/responding-coronavirus).
Researchers and professional bodies began to study the psychological impact of COVID-19 on individuals
and journals were sending out calls for papers on research about the impact of COVID-19 on individuals’
physical and mental health. There was a surge of research survey requests for participants to rate the impact
of COVID-19 on their mental and physical well-being. Lee (2020) published a Coronavirus anxiety scale
and, with the emergence of more research, there is no doubt that further studies will be focused on the
impact for a while to come. There is a current gap in the literature on the impact of COVID-19 on therapists
and helpers. These findings will be important for the future. The move from face-to-face sessions with
clients to online video sessions can cause therapists to become tired and drained. Little research has been
conducted in this area. During this time, self-care has been highlighted as essential for therapists and clients,
especially those with pre-existing anxiety disorders and mental health issues. Within physical isolation,
helpers from different backgrounds are needing to work in new and often innovative ways with clients,
as well as focusing more on their own self-care in order to provide their services. Working from home
has become the new norm, with therapists and clients having to juggle their many roles within a home
environment. It will be interesting to see what research comes out of this global pandemic and what we can
learn from the literature.
CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR
Dr Helen Nicholas
Counselling Psychologist and Practitioner Psychologist
Helen Nicholas is a registered practitioner and counselling psychologist with the Health and Care
Professions Council (HCPC), a British Psychological Society (BPS) chartered psychologist and Eye
Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapist. She is a senior lecturer at the University
of Worcester, United Kingdom, where she teaches on the BSc Counselling Psychology, MSc Counselling and
MSc EMDR courses.
Helen holds a Doctorate (PsychD) in psychotherapeutic and counselling psychology from the University
of Surrey and currently works in academia, as well as in independent private practice in Somerset (HCN
Psychology). She is the immediate past chair of the BPS, Division of Counselling Psychology (DCoP) and has
held a variety of voluntary positions in the BPS and DCoP over the last six years. Helen currently sits on the
training committee for counselling psychology, the BPS ethics committee and the professional practice board
and is a fitness to practice panel member for the HCPC.
Helen has a wide range of experience working in settings such as the NHS, adult mental health, old
age psychiatry, research, the voluntary sector, private hospitals and in academia. She specialises in working
across the lifespan with adolescents, adults and older adults and has a particular interest in depression,
anxiety, trauma and neurodegenerative diseases. She is widely published in the fields of Alzheimer’s disease,
Dementia, Personality traits, work–life balance and counselling psychology, and divides her time between
teaching, research and independent practice.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The content of this Europe, Middle East and Africa edition is predominantly adapted from the eleventh
edition of The Skilled Helper: A Problem-Management and Opportunity-Development Approach to
Helping, by Gerard Egan and Robert J. Reese but also includes some examples adapted from the following
Cengage Learning EMEA textbooks:
Burnard, P., Counselling Skills for Health Professionals Fourth Edition (2005)
Bayne, R., Jinks, G., Collard, P. & Horton, I., The Counsellor’s Handbook: A Practical A-Z Guide to Integrative
Counselling and Psychotherapy Third Edition (2008)
Crawford, R., Brown, B. & Crawford, P., Storytelling in Therapy (2004)
Finlay, L., The Practice of Psychosocial Occupational Therapy Third Edition (2004)
Stewart, W., An A-Z of Counselling Theory and Practice Fifth Edition (2013)
Full copyright details and acknowledgements will appear in the aforementioned publications.
The publisher would also like to thank the following reviewers for their helpful and insightful comments
in developing this new edition:
Annelize Bonthuys, North West University, South Africa
Maria Dempsey, University College Cork, Ireland
Lungile Mabundza, University of Swaziland, Swaziland
Beth Moran, University of Plymouth, UK
Lindi Nel, University of the Free State, South Africa
Edmarie Pretorius, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Paula Beesley, Leeds-Beckett University, UK
Laetitia Petersen, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Tasneemah Cornlissen-Nordien, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Mark Hoelterhoff, Edinburgh University, UK
xv
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Teaching & Learning
Support Resources
BE UNSTOPPABLE!
Learn more at cengage.co.uk
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PART I
LAYING THE
FOUNDATIONS
Although the centrepiece of this book is a problem-management and opportunity-development framework
that encompasses all the ingredients of successful helping (Part III) and the communication and
relationship-building skills needed to engage in the client–helper dialogue (Part II), it is also essential to
emphasise from the outset that a client-centred approach to helping is key. The term ‘client-centred’, first
used by Carl Rogers (1951), refers to the notion that it is the clients themselves who are best able to decide
how to find the solutions to their problems in living, and is a prevalent theme in effective helping across the
world, including within the United Kingdom, Europe, South Africa and the United States.
In Part I, Chapter 1 outlines the nature and goals of helping and the ingredients of successful helping
together with a snapshot of the problem-management and opportunity-development framework that
organises these ingredients. It introduces the term ‘power of basics’, to highlight the key ingredients needed
in successful therapy in order to practise competently. Chapter 2 focuses on the helping relationship and
the values that drive it, one of the basics. Both chapters highlight the client-centred and outcome-focused
nature of helping espoused in this book.
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CHAPTER 1
SUCCESSFUL
HELPING – AN
INTRODUCTION
Chapter Contents
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CHAPTER 1 SUCCESSFUL HELPING – AN INTRODUCTION 3
managers, pastoral support staff in schools and universities, supervisors, police officers and practitioners
in other service industries. Although these people are specialists in their own professions, there is still some
expectation that they will help those they serve to manage a wide variety of problem situations. For instance,
teachers teach English, history and science to students who are growing physically, intellectually, socially
and emotionally, and struggling with developmental tasks and transitions in their lives. Teachers may help
adolescents’ transition into the emerging adulthood phase of development (Arnett, 2000). Teachers are,
therefore, in a position to help their students, in direct and indirect ways, explore, understand and deal
with the problems of growing up. Managers and supervisors in work environments help workers cope
with problems related to job performance, career development, interpersonal relationships in the workplace,
returning back to work after periods of illness and a variety of personal problems that affect their ability
to do their jobs. This book is addressed directly to the first set of professionals and indirectly to the second.
To these professional helpers can be added any and all who try to help others come to grips with problems in
living: relatives, friends, acquaintances and even strangers (on buses, trains and aeroplanes). In fact, only a small
fraction of the help provided on any given day comes from qualified helping professionals. Informal helpers – bar
staff, beauticians and hairdressers are often mentioned – abound in the social settings of life. Friends and family
help one another through troubled times. Parents need to manage their own marital problems while helping their
children grow and develop. Indeed, most people grappling with problems in living seek help, if they seek it at all,
from informal sources (Heller, Swindle, Pescosolido and Kikuzawa, 2000). In the end, of course, all of us must
learn how to help ourselves cope with the problems and crises of life. Sometimes we do this on our own, but at
other times we seek help from mostly informal sources. This book is about the basic ingredients of successful
helping. It is designed to assist you in becoming a better helper no matter which category you fall into.
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4 PART I LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
because they feel they are not living as fully as they might or up to their personal values at the time (Harris,
2008). Many come because of a mixture of both. Therefore, clients with problem situations and unused
opportunities constitute the starting point and the primary focus of the helping process.
Problem situations Clients come for help because they have crises, troubles, doubts, difficulties,
frustrations or concerns. Often called ‘problems’ or ‘issues’ generically, they are not problems in a
mathematical sense because these problems usually cause emotional turmoil and often have no clear-cut
solutions. It is probably better to say that clients come not with problems but with problem situations,
issues or difficulties – that is, with complex and messy problems that they are not currently handling
well. These current issues are often poorly defined. Or, if they are well defined, clients still don’t know
how to handle or solve them. Or clients feel that they do not have the resources or resilience needed
to cope with them adequately. If they have tried previous coping strategies or solutions, they have not
worked this time.
All of us face problems in life. Problem situations arise in our interactions with ourselves, with others and
with the social settings, organisations and institutions of life. Clients – whether they are hounded by self-doubt,
tortured by unreasonable fears, grappling with the stress that accompanies serious illness, addicted to alcohol
or drugs, involved in failing marriages, suffering from postnatal depression, fired from jobs because of personal
behaviour, office politics or disruptions in the economy, confused or abused in their efforts to adapt to a new
culture, returning from some battlefield with the psychological ravages associated with war, ostracised due
to political and government upheaval in their home country, suffering from a catastrophic loss, imprisoned
because of child abuse, struggling with a midlife crisis, lonely and out of community with no family or friends,
battered by their spouses or victimised by racism – all face problem situations that move them to seek help.
In some cases, these problem situations move others – such as teachers, supervisors, the legal system – to refer
people who are not managing their problems very well to helpers or even mandate that they seek help.
Even people with devastating problem situations can, with help, handle these situations more effectively.
Consider the following example.
Lisa, aged 58, living in Bedford in the UK, suffered three devastating losses within six months. Her only daughter,
who lived on the other side of the country in Cornwall, died suddenly of a heart attack. Her daughter was only 28.
Shortly after, Lisa lost her job in a redundancy movement by her employer stemming from poor sales performance
in difficult market conditions. Finally, her husband, who had been ill for about four years, died of cancer. Although
she was not destitute, her financial condition could not be called comfortable, at least not by British middle-class
standards. One of her two sons was married with a family of his own and the other lived in Switzerland. The
unmarried son, a banker for an international bank with headquarters in Geneva, travelled extensively and was not
always easy to contact.
After her husband’s death, Lisa became agitated, confused, angry and depressed. She also felt guilty.
First, because she believed that she should have done ‘more’ for her husband. Second, because she also felt
strangely responsible for her daughter’s early death. Finally, she was terribly afraid of becoming a burden to her
sons. At first, retreating into herself and withdrawing from friends, she refused help from anyone. But eventually
she responded to the gentle persistence of the local vicar. She began attending a support group at the church. A
psychologist facilitated the group and helped her interaction within the group. She slowly began to accept help
from the other group members and her sons. She began to realise that she was not the only one who was expe-
riencing a sense of loss and began to understand the reasons for her emotions. She became part of the ‘griev-
ing family’, the group members helping each other cope with the turmoil they were experiencing. She began
relating with some of the members of the group outside the group sessions and this helped fill the social void
she experienced when she had been made redundant. Eventually, through contacts within the group, she got
another job. Gradually her depression eased and, despite some persistent anxieties, she found a kind of peace.
Note that help came from many quarters. Her newfound solidarity with her family, the church support
group, the active concern of the vicar, the informal chats with the psychologist and positive-thinking
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CHAPTER 1 SUCCESSFUL HELPING – AN INTRODUCTION 5
interactions with her new friends helped Lisa enormously. Furthermore, because she had always been a
resourceful person, the help she received enabled her to tap into her own unused strengths.
It is important to note that none of this ‘solved’ the losses she had experienced. Indeed, the goal of helping is
not to ‘solve’ problems but to help the troubled person manage them more effectively or even to transcend them
by taking advantage of new possibilities in life. Problems have an upside. They are opportunities for learning.
Missed opportunities and unused potential Some clients come for help not because they are dogged
by problems like those listed earlier but because their coping strategies are not as effective as they would
like them to be. And so clients’ missed opportunities and unused potential constitute a second starting point
for helping. Most clients, like the rest of us, have resources they are not using or opportunities they are not
developing. People who feel locked in dead-end jobs or bland marriages, who are frustrated because they
lack challenging life goals, who feel guilty because they are failing to live up to their own values and ideals,
who want to do something more constructive with their lives or who are disappointed with their uneventful
interpersonal lives – such clients come to helpers not to manage their problems better but to live more fully.
It is not a question of what is going wrong but of what could be better. It has often been suggested that
most of us use only a small fraction of our potential. Most of us are capable of dealing much more creatively
with ourselves, with our relationships with others, with our work life and, generally, with the ways in which
we involve ourselves with the social settings of our lives. Consider the following case.
After ten years as a helper in several mental-health centres around Birmingham in the United Kingdom, Sameena
was experiencing compassion fatigue and burnout. In the opening interview with a counsellor, she berated herself
for not being dedicated enough. Asked when she felt best about herself, she said that it was on those relatively
infrequent occasions when she was asked to assist in providing help for other mental-health centres that were
experiencing problems, having growing pains or reorganising. The counsellor helped her explore her potential as
a consultant to human-resource organisations and make a career adjustment. She enrolled in an organisation
development programme at a local university. In this programme she learned not only a great deal about how
organisations work (or fail to work) but also how to adapt her skills to organisational settings. Sameena stayed in
the helping field, but with a new focus and a new set of skills.
In this case, the counsellor helped the client manage her problems (compassion fatigue, burnout and guilt)
by helping her identify, explore and develop an opportunity (a new career). The helper was a catalyst;
Sameena took the lead.
Helping clients identify and develop unused potential and opportunities can be called a ‘positive
psychology’ goal. Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) called for a better balance of perspectives in the
helping professions. In their minds, too much attention is focused on pathology and too little on what
they call ‘positive psychology’: ‘Our message is to remind our field that psychology is not just the study of
pathology, weakness and damage; it is also the study of strength and virtue. Treatment is not just fixing
what is broken; it is nurturing what is best’ (p. 7). They and their fellow authors discuss such positive topics
as subjective well-being, happiness, hope, optimism, the capacity for love, forgiveness, civility, nurturance,
altruism, an appreciation of beauty and art, responsibility, self-determination, courage, perseverance,
moderation, future mindedness, originality, creativity, talent, a civic sense, spirituality and wisdom.
Traditionally, this has not been the ordinary language of the helping professions.
Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi’s challenge has stimulated a great deal of theory, research, debate
and practical programmes for helping clients identify and tap into unused resources and opportunities
(Biswas-Diener & Dean, 2007; Carr, 2004; Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2008a, 2008b; Dykens, 2006; Ince,
2009; Peterson, 2006; Seligman, 2004; Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005; Siegel & Allison, 2009;
Simonton & Baumeister, 2005; Snyder & Lopez, 2005, 2006). Helping is not just about ‘fixing’, but about
enabling clients to design and redesign their lives. Ince (2009), in a Harvard Medical School Special Health
Report, refers to positive psychology as ‘the science of satisfaction’ (p. 2). Obviously, both fixing and
redesigning have a place in helping, and one often melds into the other. Effective counsellors help clients
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6 PART I LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
choose the mix that is best for them. The ‘materials’ of designing/redesigning are the often overlooked
resources within the client – strengths, values, beliefs, pools of resilience that currently lie unnoticed.
Sometimes it is better to help clients transcend problems than to work through them. Positive psychology
suggests ways of doing just that.
You will find the positive psychology research and literature useful in striking a balance with your clients.
But, because there is a human tendency to turn what is useful into a fad, a note of caution is appropriate.
Positive psychology is not an ‘everything’s going to be all right’ approach to life. Richard Lazarus (2000)
put it well:
“However, it might be worthwhile to note that the danger posed by accentuating the positive is that if a
conditional and properly nuanced position is not adopted, positive psychology could remain at a Pollyanna level.
Positive psychology could come to be characterised by simplistic, inspirational, and quasi-religious thinking and
the message reduced to ‘positive affect is good and negative affect is bad’. I hope that this ambitious and
tantalising effort truly advances what is known about human adaptation, as it should, and that it will not be just
another fad that quickly comes and goes.” (p. 671)
Ongoing research (McNulty & Fincham, 2012) challenges the often-inflated claims made in the name of
positive psychology. And this is only right. However, at its best, helping by whatever name (counselling,
therapy, psychotherapy) engenders in clients hope for a better life. Clients with hope are more likely to
achieve life-enhancing goals. There is a more detailed discussion of hope in Chapter 9 in Part III. Clients are
encouraged to increase their levels of resilience in order to cope more effectively with life’s challenges. This
may include learning to regulate their emotions (Gross, 2014).
Fifteen-year-old Jordan was a victim of internet bullying at his university in Pretoria, South Africa. A small group of his
classmates who thought he was a ‘sissy’ or a ‘homo’ used the internet, social media and mobile phones to torment
and humiliate him. Jordan, actually a very decent teenager, was embarrassed and confused. He did not know who
was doing this or why. He became chronically anxious, stopped going out with friends and curtailed his social life in
other ways. Once the perpetrators saw that they had Jordan on the run, they increased the frequency of their attacks.
Only when he finally begged his parents to let him go to a different university did they realise what was happening.
Jordan’s parents moved into action. First, they provided whatever support they could by talking with Jordan. Next,
they arranged a meeting with a counsellor at the university who began to help Jordan manage his humiliation and
anxiety. Then they had a meeting with the university vice chancellor. The vice chancellor made an announcement
stating that cases of internet bullying were in progress and that data were being gathered to share with parents of
the offenders and, if necessary, the police. The internet bullying stopped – or went deeper underground – almost
immediately. The universities’ trustees came out with a strong no-tolerance statement about bullying in all its forms.
But its members also began to discuss how to implement such a policy without turning the university into a police
state. ‘It’s about time,’ one of the parents said. Things exploded when a couple of research articles on bullying and
other forms of adolescent aggression in universities and other higher education establishments, mostly psychological
and social, hit the headlines (Faris & Ennett, 2011; Faris & Felmlee, 2011). Psychological and social aggression,
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CHAPTER 1 SUCCESSFUL HELPING – AN INTRODUCTION 7
primed by the internet, seemed to be much more widespread in this environment than anyone realised. The research
showed that over half the students in the study either engaged in aggression, were victims of aggression or fell into
both camps.
There were some constructive outcomes. Because of his parents’ support and the counsellor’s help, Jordan’s
anxieties eased. A couple of his friends took him aside and confessed that they knew what was happening but
didn’t have the courage to do anything about it. Jordan came to realise that university life had an ‘edge’ to it and
that he had to deal with it. And he still had some good friends, including the parents of some of his classmates and
some of the adults in the neighbourhood. His parents did not become overprotective but both they and Jordan
sensed a better, more mutual relationship. The university began to search for ways of taking these issues seriously
and provided additional mental-health services and awareness campaigns across the campuses.
Jordan ended up with a better sense of himself and of the darker side of communal life, a more secure
environment, decreased anxiety and more supportive relationships with his parents and some of his friends. He
got his life back. The bullies may not have had a change of heart but they did get some kind of wake-up call.
As we have seen, clients come to helpers primarily because they want or need to manage specific problem
situations more effectively and/or develop unused opportunities in order to live life more fully. This is the
first goal of helping. But counselling, done right, can help them achieve two other goals. Let’s take a look
at all three. Read what follows and then return to Louis’ case and see if you can find elements of all three
goals.
Goal One: Life-enhancing outcomes for the client Help clients manage their problems in living more
effectively and develop unused or underused resources and opportunities more fully at the service of life-
enhancing outcomes.
Helpers are successful to the degree to which their clients – through client–helper interactions – see the
need to manage specific problem situations and develop specific unused resources and opportunities more
effectively. Notice that I stop short of saying that clients actually end up managing problems and developing
opportunities better. Although counsellors help clients achieve valued outcomes, they do not control those
outcomes directly but guide the client through options. In the end, clients can choose to live more effectively
or not.
A corollary to Goal One suggests that helping is about constructive change that leads to life-enhancing
results, outcomes, accomplishments and impact. Satisfaction, symptom reduction, constructive change as
perceived by self and/or others, and end-point improved functioning have all been studied as positive outcomes
of therapy (Lunnen, Ogles, & Pappas, 2008). All of these outcomes point to an improved life on the part of
the client. Helping is an ‘-ing’ word: it includes a series of activities in which helpers and clients engage. These
activities, however, have value only to the degree that they lead to valued outcomes in clients’ lives. Ultimately,
statements such as ‘We had a good session,’ whether spoken by the helper or by the client, must translate
into more effective living on the part of the client. If a helper and a client engage in a series of counselling
sessions productively, something of value will emerge that makes the sessions worthwhile. Unreasonable fears
will disappear or diminish to manageable levels, self-confidence will replace self-doubt, addictions will be
conquered, an operation will be faced with a degree of equanimity, a better job will be found, a couple will
breathe new life into their marriage, a battered wife will find the courage to leave her husband, or a man
embittered by institutional racism will regain his self-respect and take his rightful place in the community.
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy phrased it as such:
“Therapy is time set aside by you and the therapist to look at what has brought you to therapy. This might
include talking about life events (past and present), feelings, emotions, relationships, ways of thinking and
patterns of behaviour. The therapist will do their best to help you to look at your issues, and to identify the right
course of action for you, either to help you resolve your difficulties or help you find ways of coping. Talking about
these things may take time, and will not necessarily all be included in one session.”
(Retrieved from www.bacp.co.uk/media/2637/bacp-what-is-counselling-psychotherapy-c2.pdf)
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8 PART I LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
“The discipline of psychology is concerned with mental processes (like learning, reasoning, motivation & emotion) and
behaviour, and the relationship between these processes. The study of psychology is concerned with how people
feel, think, learn, understand, perceive, act and interact with others. This understanding allows psychologists to help
people with emotional and behavioural difficulties within a number of contexts including individual psychotherapy,
family and group psychotherapy, as well as therapeutic interventions within organisational contexts.”
(Retrieved from www.psyssa.com/public-interest/what_is/)
Regulatory and profession bodies outline their aims, values and codes of conduct that members must adhere
to (e.g. The British Psychological Society, 2018; Psychological Society of South Africa, 2007), as well as
their strategic plan; for example, many professional and regulatory bodies for psychologists, therapists and
counsellors. The focus is often on integrity, competence, respect and dignity. The PsySSA states that
“Psychologists consult with, refer to, and cooperate with, other professionals and institutions to the extent
needed to serve the best interests of their patients, clients, or other recipients of their services.”
(Retrieved from www.psyssa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/SOUTH-AFRICAN-PROFESSIONAL-
CONDUCT-GUIDELINES-IN-PSYCHOLOGY-2007-PsySSA_updated_01-12-2016pdf.pdf)
Clients often need help in finding solutions to problems, alleviating distress and working collaboratively with the
helper to aid their recovery. The British Psychological Society (BPS) describes counselling psychologists as follows:
“Counselling psychologists deal with a wide range of mental health problems concerning life issues including
bereavement, domestic violence, sexual abuse, traumas and relationship issues. They understand diagnosis
and the medical context to mental health problems and work with the individual’s subjective psychological
experience to empower their recovery and alleviate distress.”
(Retrieved from careers.bps.org.uk/area/counselling)
Helping is about constructive change that makes a substantive difference in the life of the client.
The kind of results discussed in this book can be perceived by clients and people who interact with
clients, such as family, friends, peers and co-workers. Kazdin (2006), who works with families and children,
emphasises the importance of moving beyond change based on statistical significance and even clinically
significant change, to change that has palpable impact on clients’ daily lives. Here Kazdin provides some
examples of outcomes that make a difference in the everyday life of a child with ‘conduct disorder’ and the
lives of those who interact with him:
“For example, one can see that the child no longer beats up a parent, teacher, or siblings; has stopped running
away from home; does homework for the first time; no longer steals from neighbours; no longer brandishes a
knife with younger siblings or peers; interacts appropriately with an infant sibling (e.g., talk, gentle play) rather
than physically abusing him or her; and becomes only mildly upset during a tantrum at home without any of the
usual property destruction.” (p. 47)
The need for ‘palpable’ results is not new. Effective helpers have realised this throughout the history of
helping. Thirty years ago, Driscoll (1984) saw this clearly in his work with Andrea N., a battered woman.
The mistreatment had caused her to feel that she was worthless even as she developed a secret superiority to those
who mistreated her. These attitudes contributed in turn to her continuing passivity and had to be challenged if she
was to become assertive about her own rights. Through the helping interactions, she developed a sense of worth
and self-confidence. This was the first outcome of the helping process. As she gained confidence, she became more
assertive; she realised that she had the right to take stands, and she chose to challenge those who took advantage
of her. She stopped merely resenting them and did something about it. The second outcome was a pattern of
assertiveness, however tentative in the beginning, that took the place of a pattern of passivity. When her assertive
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CHAPTER 1 SUCCESSFUL HELPING – AN INTRODUCTION 9
stands were successful, her rights became established, her social relationships improved and her confidence in
herself increased, thus further altering the original self-defeating pattern. This was a third set of outcomes. As she
saw herself becoming more and more an ‘agent’ rather than a ‘patient’ in her everyday life, she found it easier to put
aside her resentment and the self-limiting satisfactions of the passive-victim role and to continue asserting herself.
This constituted a fourth set of outcomes. The activities in which she engaged, either within the helping sessions or
in her day-to-day life, were valuable because they led to these valued outcomes. (1984, p. 64)
Andrea needed much more than ‘good sessions’ with a helper. She needed to focus on and work towards
outcomes that made a difference in her life.
Goal Two: Learning how to help oneself Help clients become better at helping themselves in their
everyday lives.
Clients often are poor problem solvers, or whatever problem-solving ability they have tends to disappear
in times of crisis or personal challenge. What G. A. Miller, Galanter and Pribram (1960) said many years
ago is, unfortunately, probably just as true today.
“In ordinary affairs we usually muddle about, doing what is habitual and customary, being slightly puzzled when
it sometimes fails to give the intended outcome, but not stopping to worry much about the failures because
there are still too many other things still to do. Then circumstances conspire against us and we find ourselves
caught failing where we must succeed – where we cannot withdraw from the field, or lower our self-imposed
standards, or ask for help, or throw a tantrum. Then we may begin to suspect that we face a problem… An
ordinary person almost never approaches a problem systematically and exhaustively unless he or she has been
specifically educated to do so.” (pp. 171, 174)
Many people in our society are still not ‘educated to do so’. And if many clients are poor at managing
problems in living, they are equally poor in identifying and developing opportunities and unused resources.
We have yet to find ways of making sure that our children develop what most consider to be essential ‘life
skills’, such as problem management, opportunity identification and development, sensible decision making
and the skills of interpersonal relating.
It is no wonder, then, that clients – often poor problem solvers to begin with – often struggle when crises
arise. If the second goal of the helping process is to be achieved – that is, if clients are to go away better able to
manage their problems in living more effectively and develop opportunities on their own – then helpers need
to impart the working knowledge and skills clients need to move forward. As Nelson-Jones (2005) puts it, ‘In
the final analysis the purpose of using counselling skills is to enable clients to become more skilled in their own
right… Counsellors are only skilled to the extent that they can be successful in skilling clients’ (p. 14). That is,
helping at its best provides clients with tools to become more effective self-helpers. Therefore, although this
book is about a process helpers can use to help clients, more fundamentally it is about a problem-management
and opportunity-development process that clients can use to help themselves. This process can help clients
become more effective problem situation managers and opportunity developers, better decision makers and
more responsible ‘agents of change’ in their own lives. Helpers need to work with clients, collaboratively
fostering their autonomy and ensuring that the decisions made are best suited to their needs.
Goal Three: Developing a prevention mentality Help clients develop an action-oriented prevention
mentality in their lives.
Just as doctors want their patients to learn how to prevent illness through good nutrition and healthy
activities, just as dentists want their patients to engage in effective oral hygiene and healthy eating to
prevent tooth decay, so skilled helpers want to see their clients anticipate problem situations rather than
merely manage them, however successfully, once they have arisen. In marriage and other relationships
the economics of prevention are extraordinary. In healthcare every pound, euro, rand or dollar spent in
prevention saves, by some estimates, ten in cure. People who develop good nutrition and exercise habits
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10 PART I LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
not only avoid a host of physical complaints but also enjoy energy levels that can be poured into other
life-enhancing activities. But prevention is fundamentally problematic. If we are good at it, bad things don’t
happen. If we get sick, we can see, touch and sometimes literally taste cure. But the benefits of prevention
are often invisible. The very materiality of cure makes it more attractive, or at least more noticeable, than
prevention. While it’s true that some people thoroughly enjoy a good workout and glorify in making healthy
eating and calorie counting a focus of their dietary habits, many others don’t. Prevention is invaluable, but
we must help clients work at making it attractive for themselves.
Counselling provides an opportunity for helping clients embark on the prevention path.
Take the case of South African couple Kagiso and Baruti. Four years into their marriage they found themselves
sitting unhappily with a marriage counsellor, pointing fingers at each other. With the help of the counsellor they
began, painfully, to come to grips with problems dealing with financial decisions, sexual relations and child rearing
(three children). The counsellor pointed to how, over the years, they both had experienced ‘pinches’ – small
annoyances – in their interactions. For instance, Kagiso noticed that Baruti was rather generous in buying small
things for himself, but expressed mild resentment when she did the same. But she said nothing. On the other hand,
Baruti thought that Kagiso at times was less spontaneous, less ‘into it’, in their sexual relations, but still resented it
whenever she thought he was giving another woman a second glance. But he said nothing. The problem was that
both of them ‘saved up’ the pinches until they erupted, or even exploded, into ‘crunches’ – major blow-ups in their
relationship. And the number of crunches had begun to grow.
The original pinch–crunch model is from Sherwood and Glidewell (1973) but an internet search will
reveal ways in which this has been used in other areas as well as a number of variations of this very useful
prevention-focused conflict-management model.
The counsellor helped the clients do three things. First, he helped them diffuse and manage their most
acute problem situation, which dealt with childcare. Second, he not only taught them the rudiments of the
problem-management and opportunity-development approach to counselling he was using (the one that is
described and illustrated in this book), but helped them use this process to manage some of the financial
problems they faced. He pragmatically ‘walked them through’ the model as a way of providing them with a
set of skills they could use on their own in the future. They used the model to deal with financial problems.
Third, from a prevention point of view, he helped them see that ignoring or ‘saving up’ pinches almost
inevitably led to crunches. In talking with them separately, he discovered that they both had a reasonably
solid set of communication skills. But, strangely enough, they did not use these skills when talking with
each other. He showed them how they could use their communication skills to defuse the pinches that
creep into relationships. He made them aware that negotiating is not restricted to country-to-country
relationships or to what opposing political parties do as a last resort. In fact, fair-minded negotiation is
part of everyday communal living. The counsellor introduced the clients to resources which they then used.
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CHAPTER 1 SUCCESSFUL HELPING – AN INTRODUCTION 11
outlined here. That is, they are ‘not invariant, proportionally fixed, or neatly additive. Far from it, they are
interdependent, fluid, and dynamic’ (p. 34).
I set out the reasoning behind my inclusions and let you and the profession itself be my judge. But that is
currently the nature of the helping industry. The social sciences deal with human behaviour which is often
messy, disordered and difficult to predict. And so debate, sometimes acrimonious, is part and parcel of the
helping professions. There will always be a degree of uncertainty about the findings of the social sciences.
Indeed the place of uncertainty in the helping profession is discussed later in this chapter. Actually, we have
already seen the first ingredient, the life-enhancing outcomes clients seek. The rest of the ingredients are:
• The client and the contextual factors of the client’s life
• The person of the therapist
• The helping relationship
• The therapeutic dialogue between client and helper
• Two-way feedback between client and helper
• The model or method of treatment and the assumptions behind it
• The standard problem-management process as a human universal
• Decision making as a human universal
• The beliefs, values, norms, ethics and morality that drive human behaviour.
All of these ingredients, separately or in combination, are useful to the degree that they contribute to
life-enhancing outcomes for the client. The pages of this book are filled with examples of life-enhancing
outcomes. So we turn our attention to the ingredients that both individually and collectively lead to or
produce these outcomes. Each ingredient will be described here and then explored and illustrated throughout
this book. Let’s start with an overview of a case.
David, a British soldier, was a veteran of two wars. His first stint was in Iraq, his second in Afghanistan. His tour
in Afghanistan ended abruptly after his squad was ambushed near the Pakistani border. Two of his best friends
were killed. David escaped with relatively minor injuries. Minor physical injuries, that is. When he first returned to
base he seemed to be all right but about a month later the dam broke. Not only did the full range of post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms flood through him off and on – nightmares, flashbacks, bouts of anxiety and
depression, irritability, insomnia, social avoidance, trouble concentrating, feeling emotionally numb – but he also
began ruminating and agonising over his pre-military life, especially poor decisions he had made. For instance,
after secondary school he decided to join the army instead of going to university. During his first year in the army
he broke up with his girlfriend, believing that ‘the military and deeper relationships did not mix’. He let himself
‘drift away from God’. It’s not that he led an immoral life, rather his ‘beliefs became twisted’. This caused feelings
of guilt. Early on he was told that all of this was probably only temporary. But that was not the case. He had
his ‘good days’, but various PTSD symptoms kept popping up ‘for no reason at all’. He returned to the United
Kingdom, but whilst on sick leave back in his home town, found relationships with family and friends ‘difficult’.
Army doctors decided that he was not fit to continue to serve in the army. An honourable discharge was arranged.
Many of David’s symptoms persisted. Some grew worse. For instance, he began thinking that he could have done
something to prevent the deaths of his friends, and this increased the burden of guilt. While he did not entertain
suicidal thoughts, he did wonder about servicemen who had taken their own lives. How bad could things get? He
knew that he could never take his own life, but he began to understand why people do take their lives. What he
saw ahead of him was a life of misery. He resisted all but intermittent help – ‘I’m no psycho’ – and, reluctantly and
intermittently, took some medication for both anxiety and depression. Finally, at the urging of a military doctor he
agreed to seek psychological help – ‘I’ll try anything.’ Well, almost anything. David does not want to get involved
with a military therapist because he wants to distance himself from the military – ‘I want to leave all that behind.’
He believes that working in a military setting would for him be part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
So David and Laura, who works in a mental health clinic associated with a Christian hospital near where David
lives, become client and helper. Because the hospital is near an army camp, Laura has seen a number of soldiers,
but none with David’s background.
We will continue to review and expand this case as we explore and explain the key ingredients of successful helping.
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12 PART I LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
This is just a partial list, but all of it is relevant to David’s situation. Since people are complex, it is important
for helpers to identify factors that are key for each client. Or even better, it is important for clients, often
with the help of a therapist, to discover the key factors that have an impact on their problem situations.
In the end the quality of the client’s participation in the therapeutic endeavour is the major determinant of
outcome. So David needs a therapist who can help him give his best to the therapeutic process. Clients are
or should be in the driver’s seat with respect to managing problem situations in everyday life. It is essential
that therapists help them get into the driver’s seat and stay there throughout the helping process. Therefore,
for the reasons outlined by Duncan and Sparks (2010), if there are any heroes (an overused and misused
word) in the therapeutic endeavour, they are the clients rather than the therapists. David is responsible for
life-enhancing change. His helper is a catalyst for that change.
Irish writer Brian Keenan, who was held hostage in Beirut between 1986 and 1990, described his
experiences in 1991 in the following words, soon after the release of his friend and fellow hostage John
McCarthy:
“Each man must find within himself the various methods to contain and control the pain and confusion within.
There are no ready-made answers. It is a slow process of rediscovery, where denial or flight from the inward
turmoil is the antithesis of self-healing. We go that road alone. We may be helped but we cannot be pushed
or misdirected. We each have the power within us to re-humanise ourselves. We are our own self-healers.”
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Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
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Cricket, a bowled ball that goes out of the batsman's reach. —
wide'ly, adv. — wide'ness, n. wide'-a-wake' (109), a. Fully awake ;
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wid'en (wld''n), v. t. & i. To make or become wide orj wide'spread'
(wid'spred'), a. Widely extended or spread. widg'eon (wij'un), n. Any
of several fresh- water, ducks (genus Mareca), in size between the
teal and the mallard. wid'ow (wid'o), n. [AS. widuwe, wuduwe.] 1. A
woman who has lost her husband by death, and has not married
again. American Widgeon. 2. Card Playing. In various games, any
extra hand or part of a hand, as one dealt to the table. — a.
Widowed ; as, a widow woman. Now Colloq. — v. t. 1. To bereave of
a husband or wife. Rare, exc. in p. p. ; as, a widowed mother or
father. 2. To endow with a widow's right. Rare. 3. Fig., to deprive of
anything esteemed ; bereave ; as, "The widowed isle, in mourning."
widow bird. A whidah bird ; — from its somber color. wid'ow-er
(wld'6-er), n. A man who has lost his wife by death, and has not
married again. wid'ow-hood (-h66d), n. State of being a widow or,
Rare, a widower ; time during which a woman is a widow. width
(width), n. Extent sidewise ; breadth ; wideness. || Wie'gen-lied'
(ve'gen-leV), n.; pi. Wiegenlieder (-le'der). [G.] A cradle song ;
berceuse. Wield (weld), v. t. [AS. wieldan, fr. wealdan.] 1. To direct
by influence or authority ; manage ; control ; sway ; as, to wield the
world. 2. To use with full command or power ; employ ; as, to wield
a sword. — wield'er, n. Wife (wlf), n.; pi. wives (wivz). [ME. wif wife,
woman, AS. wif.] 1. A woman. Now Rare or Dial., exc. in comp. 2. A
woman united to a man in lawful wedlock ; spouse ; — correlative of
husband. — wife'hood (-h66d), n. wife'ly, a. Befitting, like, or
pertaining to, a wife. wig (wig), n. [Abbr. fr. periwig.] An artificial
covering of hair for the head. [scold severely. ColloqA wig (wig), v.
t.; wigged (wigd); wig'ging. To censure;) wig'an (wTg'an), n. [From
Wigan, Lancashire, Eng.] A canvaslike cotton fabric, used to stiffen
parts of garments. wi'geon (wTj'tin). Var. of widgeon. wigged (wigd),
a. Wearing a wig. [false hair. Rare.] wig'ger-y (wig'er-T), n. ; pi. -
geries (-iz). A wig or wigs ;| wig'gle (wig"l), v. i. & t.; -gled (-'Id); -
gling (-ling). k = ch in G. ich, ach (50); boN; yet; zh=z in azure.
Numbers refer to Sections in Guide to Pronunciation Explanations of
Abbreviations used in this work, Signs, etc, precede Vocabulary. ||
Foreign Word. + combined with. = equals! <
N 0 WIGGLER 1094 WH.LOWER R u W 2, 3 First, Second,
and Third Motions in Wigwagging. wig'wag'ger (-er), [ME. wigelen to
totter, reel.] To move to and fro with a quick jerky motion ; wag ;
wriggle. — n. Act of wiggling ; a wriggle. All Dial. Eng. & Colloq. U.
S. wig'gler (wig'ler), n. The larva or pupa of the mosquito. wight
(wit), n. [AS. wiht creature, thing.] A person; creature ; being ; —
now chiefly used jocosely. wig'wag' (wig'wag'), v. t. & i. ; -wagged' (-
wagd') ; -wag'ging (-wag'ing). [See wag, v. t.2 1. To move to and
fro; wag. 2. Mil. & Nav. To signal by means of a flag, or portable
light, waved according to a code. — n. Mil. & Nav. Act or art of
wigwagging; also, a message wigwagged; — used chiefly
attributively wig'wam (wig'wom; -worn), n. [Algonquian wigwam
dwelling, fr. wigw he dwells.] 1. The hut of the Indians about the
Great Lakes and eastward, formed of poles overlaid with bark, rush
mats, or hides. See tepee, Illust. 2. Any large structure used for
political conventions, etc. Slang, U. S. Wik'i-up' (wik'i-up), n. [Of
North Amer. Indian origin.] The hut of nomadic Indian tribes of the
arid western and southwestern United States. Wild (wild), a. [AS.
wilde.'] 1. Living in a state of nature ; not tamed or domesticated. 2.
Growing without the care of man; not cultivated. 3. Not inhabited or
cultivated. 4. Savage ; uncivilized ; not cultured ; rude. 5. Impatient
of, or not subjected to, restraint or regulation ; as : a Turbulent ;
stormy ; ungoverned ; as, wild winds, b Boisterous ; gay ; as, a wild
youth, c Fantastic ; visionary ; crazy ; as, a wild project. 6.
Indicating strong emotion, excitement, exaltation, or the like; as,
wild words. 7. Eager, as with desire or anticipation ; keen ; as, wild
to dance. Colloq. 8. Erratic ; wide of the mark ; as, a wild pitch in
baseball. wild boar, a wild Old World hog (Sus scrofa) from which
most domestic swine have been derived. — w. brier, any
uncultivated species of brier ; specif. : a The dog-rose, b The
sweetbrier. — w. carrot, an apiaceous weed (Daucus carota), the
original of the cultivated carrot. Its root is acrid. — w. cat. a A
European native cat (Felis catus) similar in color to the domestic cat,
but larger, stronger, and having a shorter, blunter tail, b Any of the
small or medium-sized cats not domesticated, as a lynx. — w. flax.
See gold-ofpleasure. — w. gean, a common wild cherry of Europe
(JPrunus avium) ; also, its sweet-flavored fruit. — w. -goose chase, a
pursuit after something unattainable. — W. Hunt, in European
folklore, a nocturnal rushing of a rout of spectral hunters through
the wilderness or across the sky. — w. hyacinth, a An American
liliaceous plant (Quamasia esculenta) with white racemose flowers, b
A European squill (Scilla nonscripta) bearing a raceme of drooping
blue, purple, white, or pink, bell-shaped flowers. — w. indigo, any of
a genus (Baptisia) of American fabaceous plants ; esp. a species (B.
lincloria) with bright yellow flowers. — w. lettuce, any uncultivated
species of lettuce which becomes a weed. — w. madder, a =
madder, b Either of two species (Galium mollugo and G. linctorium)
of bedstraw. — w. mandrake. = May apple. — w. parsnip, the wild
original form of the cultivated parsnip, found as a weed in both
Europe and America. Its root is acrid and bitter. — w. rye, any of a
genus (Elymus) of grasses having the appearance of rye. — w.
spinach, any of several plants (genus Chenopodium) sometimes
used as substitutes for spinach. — w. vanilla, an asteraceous herb (
Trilisa odoratissima) of the southeastern United States, the leaves of
which have the fragrance of vanilla. — n. A wilderness ; waste. —
adv. Wildly. wild'cat' (wlld'kat'), n. See wild cat, under wild, a. — a.
1. Not sound or safe ; unreliable ; irresponsible ; as, a wildcat bank,
mine. 2. Railroads. Of trains, locomotives, etc., nmning without
control or contrary to orders. wilde'beest' (wild'best' ; Du. vil'de-
bast'), n. [D. wild wild + beeste beast.] A gnu. wil'der (wil'der), v. t.
To bewilder. Chiefly Poetic. wil'der-ment (-ment), n. Bewilderment.
Poetic. Wil'der-ness (wil'der-nes), n. [ME. wildemesse, wilderne,
prob. fr. AS. wildor a wild beast.] 1. A tract or region uncultivated
and uninhabited by human beings ; a wild ; waste. 2. Wildness. Obs.
3. A confusing multitude or mass. — Syn. See desert. wild'fire'
(wild'fir'), n. 1. An inflammable composition hard to quench when
kindled ; Greek fire. 2. a Erysipelas. 06s. b An inflammatory skin
disease of sheep. wild'ing (wil'ding), n. Bot. a An uncultivated plant
or its fruit, b An escape. — o. Not tame ; wild. Poetic. wildly, adv. In
a wild manner. wild'ness, n. Quality or state of being wild. wild'wood
(wild'wdod), n. A wild or unfrequented wood. wile (wll), n. [AS. wil.J
A trick or stratagem ; a sly artifice ; specif., a beguiling trick. — Syn.
See artifice. — v. t. ; wiled (wild) ; wil'ing (wil'ing). 1. To lure ; entice
: beguile ; allure. 2. [Perh. for while.'} To while ; — often with away.
— wil'i-ly (wll'i-li), adv. — wil'i-ness, n wil'ful, wil'ful-ly, wil'ful-ness.
Vars. of willful, etc. will (wil), n. [AS. willa.~] 1. Wish or desire; as :
a inclination ; pleasure, b Appetite or passion, c Purpose ;
determination ; choice ; intention. 2. What is wished by another ;
esp., choice or determination of one in authority ; discretionary
pleasure; hence, a request, command, or decree; as, "Thy will be
done." 3. Power coupled with desire or intention ; as : a Arbitrary
disposal, b Self-control ; as, a man of iron will. 4. Act or experience
of willing ; specif. : a Settlement of mental uncertainty or indecision ;
a volition (in sense 2). b The total conscious process involved in
effecting a decision. 5. Power of choosing ; also, power of choosing
and of acting accordingly ; sometimes, a disposition to act according
to certain principles or ideals ; as, the moral will. 6. Law. The legal
declaration of a person's mind as to the disposition of his property
after his death ; the written instrument embodying this declaration.
Syn. Will, volition are sometimes interchangeable. But will ordinarily
denotes the power or faculty of willing or choosing ; volition, the
exercise of that power, or the act. with a will, with willingness and
zeal ; heartily. — v. t. ; willed (wild) ; will'ing. Indie, present, I will,
thou wiliest, he wills or willeth; we, ye, they will. 1. To desire.
Archaic. 2. To command; order. Obs. 3. To determine by an act of
choice ; ordain ; decree. 4. To influence by one's will, as through
hypnotism. 5. To give, dispose of, or direct by will or testament ;
bequeath. — v. i. To exercise volition ; choose ; decide ; decree. will,
v. t. & auxiliary; pres. & sing. 1st & 3d pers. will, 2d pers. wilt, pi.
will ; pret. would ; p. p. would. Infinitive and imperative lacking. [AS.
willan, pres. ind., 1st pers. wille, 2d pers. wilt, 3d pers. wille, pret.
wolde.] 1. As verb transitive : Wish ; desire ; — now used chiefly in
the form would (which see). 2. As auxiliary, followed by the infinitive
without to (see also would): a Am (is, are, etc.) willing or desirous
to, or, emphatically, determined to ; hence, simply, am (is, are, etc.)
to ; — forming future-tense phrases. See shall, 2. b Am (is, are, etc.)
accustomed to ; as, a dog will wag his tail and bark. Syn. Will, shall
are often confused. In the first person, shall alone denotes simple
futurity ; will implies willingness, consent, promise, or determination.
In the second and third persons, will alone (except in questions in
the second person, where shall is the proper auxiliary) denotes
simple futurity, and shall implies command, threat, promise, or
determination. But in subordinate clauses shall is the proper auxiliary
for simple futurity in all three persons. See may, ought. — v. i. To be
willing ; wish ; desire. fcW* This word has been confused with will,
v. i., to choose, which, unlike this, is entirely of the weak
conjugation. will I (ye, he), nill I (ye, he) [see nill, v. t.J, whether I
(you, he) will it or not ; hence : without choice ; compulsprily ; —
sometimes corrupted to willy-nilly. [tion.J willed (wild), a. Having a
will ; — used chiefly in composi-| wil'lem-ite (wil'em-it), n. [After
Willem I., king of the Netherlands.] Min. A native silicate of zinc,
Zn2Si04, occurring in hexagonal prisms and in other forms, and
varying in color. In the variety troostite, the zinc is partly replaced by
manganese. will'er, n. One who wills. wil'let (wil'et), n. A large North
American shore bird (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus) ; — so named
from its loud whistle resembling the syllables pilly-will-willet. will'ful
(wil'fool), a. Iwill +full.~] 1. Self-determined; voluntary ; intentional
; as, willful murder. 2. Governed by will without yielding to reason ;
obstinate; perverse ; as, a willful horse. — Syn. See wayward. —
will'ful-ly, adv. — will'ful-ness, n. Also wil'ful, etc. will'ing, o. 1.
Favorably disposed in mind; desirous; ready ; as, willing to go. 2.
Ready to act ; prompt to do, give, etc. ; as, a willing crew. 3.
Accepted, done, given, etc., without reluctance ; voluntary ; as, a
willing sacrifice. — will'ing-ly, adv. — will'ing-ness. n. will'-o'-the-
wisp' (wil'6-the-wisp'), n. An ignis fatuus. wil'low (wll'o), n. [ME.
wilowe, wilwe, AS. welig.'] 1. Any of a genus (Salix) of trees or
shrubs having tough pliable shoots, used in basketry, etc. 2. The
wood of the willow (sense 1) ; Colloq., something made of that
wood, as a cricket or baseball bat. wil'low, n. Textile Manuf. A
machine in which cotton or wool is opened and cleansed. — v. t. To
treat, as cotton, with a willow. wil'low-er, n. One who, or that which,
willows ; specif., a willow (the machine). ale, senate, care, am,
account, arm. ask, sofa; eve, event end, recent, maker; ice, 111;
old, obey, 6rb, odd, soft, connect; nse, unite, urn, up, circus, menu;
food, foot; out, oil; chair; go; sing, ink; then, thin; nature, verdure
(87);
WILLOW-HERB 1095 WINDOW Willow-herb', n., or willow
herb. A perennial herb (Chamsenerion angustifolium) with narrow
willowlike leaves and showy rose-purple flowers. Also, any species of
the same genus or of a related genus (Epilobium). Wil'low-y (wil'6-i),
a. 1. Abounding with willows. 2. Resembling a willow ; pliant ;
flexible ; graceful. wil'ly (wll'l), n. Textile Manuf. A willow. wil'ly, v. t. ;
wii/lied (-Id) ; wii/ly-ing. To willow, as cotton, etc. [2d will.1 Wil'ly-
nil'ly (wll'I-nll'I). See will I, nill I, etc., under| Wilt (wilt), v. i. [A
modification of obs. welk to fade.] 1. To lose freshness and become
flaccid ; droop. 2. To grow weak or faint ; languish ; flag ; hence,
Colloq., to lose courage, spirit, etc. — v. t. To cause to droop or
languish. Wilt, 2d pers. sing, of will. Wil'ton, n., or Wil'ton car'pet or
rug (wll't&n). A kind of carpet or rug woven with loops like Brussels,
but differing from it in havin ; the loops cut, forming an elastic velvet
pile ; — so called because first made at Wilton, Eng. Wil'y (wll'l), a.;
wil'i-er (-T-er) ; wil'i-est. Full of wiles, tricks, or stratagems ; crafty ;
subtle. — Syn. See cunning. Wim'ble (wlm'b'l), n. Any of various
boring instruments ; specif., a kind of brace. — v. t. ; -bled (-b'ld) ; -
bling (-bling). To bore or pierce, as with a wimble. wim'ple (-p'l), n.
[AS. wimpel.'] A covering of silk, linen, etc., for the neck, chin, and
sides of the face, now worn only by nuns. — v. t.; -pled (-p'ld) ; -
pling (-pling). 1. To clothe with a wimple. 2. To plait, or fold ; hence,
to cause to ripple or undulate. — v. i. To lie in folds ; also, to ripple.
Win (win), v. i.; pret. & p. p. won (wiin) ; p. pr. & vb. n. win'ning.
[AS. winnan to strive, labor, endure.] 1. To gain the victory ; prevail.
2. To succeed by effort in reaching a speci- Wimple, fied place or
state ; get ; as, to win across, away, back, etc. to win out, to be
successful. Colloq. — to win to, to be able to go or get to. — v. t. 1.
To get by or as by labor or effort ; hence : to gain ; obtain ; secure ;
as, to win praise. 2. Specif. : a To gain in competition or contest ;
also, to come off victor in ; as, to win a race, b To earn ; as, to win a
living. 3. To achieve by effort ; as, to win one's way. 4. To come to
by effort ; reach ; as, to win the mountain top. 5. a To persuade ;
allure, b To influence so as to gain the favor of ; as, to win over an
enemy. 6. Mining, a To obtain, as ore or coal, by mining, b Hence, to
prepare, as a vein or bed, by shafts, gangways, levels, etc., for the
operation of winning (sense 6 a, above). 7. Metal. To recover (metal,
etc.) from ore. — Syn. See obtain. Wince (wins), v. i.; winced (winst)
; winc'ing (wln'slng). To shrink, as from a blow, or from pain ; flinch.
— Syn. See shrink. — n. Act or fact of wincing. — winc'er, n. Wince,
n. [See winch an instrument.] A reel used in dyeing, steeping, or
washing cloth ; a winch. Winch (winch), n. [AS. wince winch, reel.]
^1. A crank with a handle for giving motion to a machine,
grindstone, etc. 2. Any of various devices to turn or strain something
forcibly, as a form of windlass, a wince, etc. Wind (wind) -pret. & p.
p. wound (wound), rarely wiND'ED(wIn'ded); y/WT) //Uiimll\ p. pr. 4
Band Brake operated by Lever dan.j 1. To turn 6 '• 5 Pawl to Prevent
unwinding, completely or repeatedly, esp. about something fixed;
twist ; twine ; coil. 2. To infold ; entwine ; as, to wind a spool with
thread. 3. To turn the course or direction of ; control ; govern. 4. To
effect by turning ; as, the stream winds its way. 5. To introduce
sinuously or stealthily ; insinuate ; as, to wind one's self into favor.
6. To wind up ; as, to wind a watch. 7. To hoist or haul by a rope,
etc., pulled by a machine, as coal from a pit. to wind up. a To coil
into a ball or small compass, b To bring to a conclusion or settlement
; a3, to wind up one's affairs, c To put in a state of renewed or
continued motion, as a clock, a watch, etc., as by winding the spring
; hence, to prepare for continued movement or action, a To make
tense or tight ; hence, fig. ; to arouse ; excite, e To hoist by or as by
a windlass. ■— v. i. 1. To move in a sinuous course ; also, to double
on one's course. 2. To make one's way by sinuous, stealthy, or
indirect methods; as, to wind into favor. 3. To coil; twine ; as vines
wind round a pole. 4. To warp, as a board. — n. A winding ; turn ;
bend ; twist. wind (wind; also, poet., rhetorical, or archaic, wind), n.
[AS. wind!\ 1. The horizontal natural movement of air; air naturally
in motion with any degree of velocity. 2. A point of the compass;
esp., one of the cardinal points, which are often called the Jour
winds. 3. Air artificially put in motion. 4. Air impregnated with a
scent, as of game ; hence, scent ; — used in phrases. 5. Power of
respiration ; breath. 6. Mere breath or talk ; idle words. 7. Musical
wind instruments collectively. 8. Gas generated in the stomach or
bowels ; flatulence. Syn. Wind, breeze, air, gust, blast, flaw. Wind is
the general word for air naturally in motion. A breeze is a relatively
light, but fresh, wind ; air (chiefly poetical) denotes a gently stirring
breeze. Gust, blast, and flaw denote a sudden and violent rush of
wind, usually brief. in the wind, stirring ; moving ; afoot. — to have
in the w., to have the w. of, to be on the scent of. See def. 4, above.
— to sail close to the w. a Naut. To sail with the head of the vessel
directed as nearly to the point from which the wind blows as it is
possible to sail, b To manage economically, c To approach vulgarity,
indiscretion, or the like, in speech or conduct. — v. t. 1. To expose to
the wind ; winnow. 2. To perceive or follow by the scent ; scent. 3.
To render scant of breath by exertion. Dial, or Colloq. 4. To rest, as a
horse, in order to allow the breath to be recovered. wind (wind;
wind), v. t.; pret. & p. p. wound (wound), rarely wind'ed; p. pr. cfc
vb. n. wind'ing. [From wind moving air, but confused in sense and in
conjugation with wind to turn.] 1. To blow ; sound, as a horn, by
blowing. 2. To signal or direct by blowing a horn. Rare. Wind'age
(wln'daj), n. 1. Ordnance, a Space between the projectile of a
smoothbore gun and the surface of the bore, b In a muzzle-loading
rifled cannon, the difference between the diameter of the bore and
that of the projectile cylinder. 2. The disturbance of the air caused by
a passing projectile. 3. Gun. The influence of the wind in deflecting a
projectile ; also, the amount of such deflection. 4. Naut. The surface
exposed by a vessel to the wind. wind'break7, n. A shelter from the
wind, as a clump of trees. wind'— bro'ken, a. Having the power of
breathing impaired by injury of air cells of the lungs, so that while
the inspiration is by one effort, the expiration is by two ; affected
with heaves ; — said of a horse. wind'er (win'der), n. One who, or
that which, winds, twists, or turns ; specif. : a A key for winding up a
spring, as a universal watch key used by watchmakers, b Any of a
flight of steps that are not parallel. wind'fair (wlnd'fol'), n. 1.
Something blown down by the wind, as fruit. 2. An unexpected
legacy or other gain. wind'flow'er (-flou'er), n. The anemone.
wind'gall' (-gol'), n. Veter. In horses, a soft tumor or synovial
swelling on the fetlock joint. wind'hov'er (-huv'er), n. [From its habit
of hovering over one spot.] The kestrel. Local, Eng. wind'i-ly (wln'dl-
ll), adv. In a windy manner. wind'i-ness (wln'dl-nes), n. Quality or
state of being windy. wind'ing (wln'dlng), n. 1. A turn ; bend ; curve
; meander. 2. Material wound about anything, or a single round of it.
winding sheet, a sheet in which a corpse is wrapped. wind'ing-ly,
adv. In a winding manner. Wind instrument (wind). Music. An
instrument sounded by wind, esp. by the breath. Those blown by
the breath are wood-wind instruments, or wood winds, as the flute,
oboe, bassoon, clarinet, and brass-wind instruments, or brass winds,
as the trumpet, horn, trombone, and tuba. Cf. pipe, «., 1, reed, 6.
[crew. Colloq. \ wind'jam'mer (-jam'er), n. A sailing vessel or one of
its| Wind'lass (wlnd'las), n. [ME. windas.~\ Any of various machines
for hoisting or hauling, as by turning a crank so as to wind up a rope
attached to the weight. — v. t. & i. ; To hoist or haul as with a
windlass ; use a windlass. wind'mill' (wlnd'mlF), n. 1. A mill operated
by the wind, usually by the wind acting on oblique vanes or sails
which radiate from a horizontal shaft. 2. An imaginary wrong, evil, or
opponent ; — in allusion to the windmills which Don Quixote took for
giants. win'dOW (wln'do), n. [ME. windowe, windoge, fr. Scand.] 1.
An opening in the wall of a building to admit light and air, usually
closed by sliding glazed casements or sashes. 2. Arch. The shutter,
casement, sash, or other framework, which closes a window
opening. — v. t. To furnish with a window Modern Windmill, a a Sails
; b Vane to bring Windmill into the wind. < K = ch in G. ich, ach
(50); boN; yet; zh-z in azure. Numbers refer to Sections in Guide to
Pronunciation. Explanations of Abbreviations used in this work.
Signs, etc., precede Vocabulary. || Foreign Word. + combined with.
= equals.
N 0 WINDOWPANE 1096 WIPE u w or windows ; — usually
in p. p. and in composition ; as, a many-windowed house. [dow. See
pane, n., 2.1 Win'dow-pane' (wTn'do-pan'), n. Arch. A pane in a win-
| window seat. A seat built in the recess of a window. wind'pipe'
(wind'pIpO, n. The passage for the breath from the larynx to the
lungs ; the trachea. wind'row' (wmd'ro'; win'ro'), n. [wind + row.] 1.
A row of hay raked up to dry before being heaped into cocks ; also,
any similar row for drying, as of sheaves of grain. 2. A wind-swept
line or row, as of dry leaves or dust. — v. t. ; wind'rowed' (-rod') ;
wind'rowtng. To arrange in windrows. — wind'row'er (-er), n. wind
shake, n. = anemosis. wind shield. A shield of glass in a metal
frame, usually in adjustable sections, fastened to the dashboard of
an automobile to protect the occupants from wind, rain, dust, etc.
Wind'Storm' (wind'storm'), n. _ A storm characterized by high wind
with little or no precipitation. wind sucking. = crib biting. Wind'— up'
(wlnd'up'), n. Act of winding up, or closing ; a concluding act or part
; the end ; finish. wind' ward (wmd'werd), n. The point or side from
which the wind blows ; — opposed to leeward. — o. On the side
toward the windward. — adv. Toward the wind ; in the direction
from which the wind blows. Wind'y (wTn'di), a. ; wind'i-er (-di-er) ; -
i-est. 1. Consisting of wind ; accompanied or characterized by wind.
2. Specif. : a Exposed to the wind ; swept by wind, b Next the wind ;
windward. C Tempestuous ; boisterous. 3. Producing, or tending to
produce, flatulence; also, attended with, or caused by, flatulence ;
flatulent. 4. Fig., airy ; empty. 5. Bombastic ; boastful. Colloq. Wine
(win), n. [AS. win, fr. L. vinum."] 1. Fermented juice of grapes. 2.
The fermented juice, or, loosely, the unfermented juice, of any fruit
or plant, used as a beverage. 3. The effect of drinking wine to
excess ; intoxication ; | as, " Noah awoke from his wine ." 4. A social
gathering where wine is served. Colloq. or Cant, chiefly Eng. — v. t.
& i. ; wined (wind) ; winding (wln'mg). To supply or treat with wine,
or to drink wine. wine'bib'ber (wln'bib'er), n. One who drinks wine to
excess. — wine'bib'bing (-ing), n. & a. wine'fat' (wln'fat'), n. A wine
press (in sense 1). wine gallon. See gallon. wine'glass' (win'glas'), n.
A small glass for wine. wine'glass-ful (-glas-fot>l), n.; pi. -fuls (-
fdolz). As much as a wineglass will hold, usually 4 tablespoonfuls.
Wine measure. A system of measures for wine; specif., an old
system by which wine and spirits were sold. wine palm. Any palm
from the sap of which wine is made ; toddy palm. wine press. 1. A
vat in which the juice from grapes is trodden out, as in ancient
Palestine.^ 2. A machine for expressing the juice from grapes for
wine. > [tablishment.l win'er-y (win'er-i), n. ; pi. -ies (-iz). A wine-
making es-| wine'sap' (wTn'sapO, n. A large, deep red winter apple
much grown in the western United States. wine skin. A large bag
made of almost the entire skin of an animal, used esp. in the Orient
for holding wine. Wing (wing), n. [ME. winge, wenge.~\ 1. An organ
of aerial flight ; one of the paired appendages by means of which
certain animals, as most birds, bats, and many insects, are able to
fly. 2. Any of various winglike structures in other animals ; esp., the
broad thin anterior lobes of the foot of a pteropod. 3. Fig., means or
instrument of flight ; means of travel, progress, or rapid motion. 4.
Passage by flying ; flight. 5. Something suggestive of a wing, as an
appendage or part likened to a wing in shape, appearance, ■- or
position, as one, or either of a pair, attached to a side or the sides of
something ; specif. : a Anat. An ala ; as, the wings of the nose, b
Either of the parts of a double door or screen. C In some forms of
football, etc., the position of the forwards on either side of the
center forward ; hence, also, a player on one of the wings, d
Aeronautics. In a flying machine, any part used primarily to give a
supporting surface for the machine in flight ; esp., either of a pair of
aeroplanes of a flying machine, e Bot. Any foliaceous expansion, as
that of samaras, etc. f Arch. A part of a building projecting from, and
subordinate to, the main part, g Fort. In a crownwork either of the
longer sides connecting it with the main work, h Theater. The
chamber or platform at either side of the stage proper ; also, one of
the side pieces of scenery, i Mil. & Nav. The right or left division of
an army, fleet, or any command. on the wing, a Flying, b Moving
about ; traveling. Colloq. — under the w., or wings, of, under the
care or protection of. — w. and w., Naul., with sails boomed out on
either side ; — ; said of a schooner or her sails. — v. t. 1. To furnish
with or as with wings ; hence, to enable to fly or move swiftly. 2. To
transport by flight ; — chiefly used reflexively. 3. To supply with
wings or sidepieces. 4. To effect or achieve by wings, as flight. 5. To
fly through ; as, to wing the sky. 6. To wound in the wing ; also,
Colloq., to wound. — v. i. To go with or as with wings ; fly. Wing bow
(bo). The lesser coverts of the shoulder of a bird's wing when
distinctively colored. See poultry, Illust. wing covert. See covert, n.,3
; poultry, Illust. winged (wingd ; also, esp. rhetorical or poet.,
wmg'Hd), a. 1. Furnished with wings. 2. Abounding with wings.
Rare. 3. Transported by wings ; hence, swift. 4. Wounded or hurt in
the wing ; also, Colloq., of persons, wounded ; hurt. wing'less, a.
Without wings, or having only very rudimentary wings. wing'let, n. A
very small wing ; also, an alula. Wing rail. Railroads. A guard rail, or
rail placed inside a main rail as a safeguard against derailment ;
either of the outside lateral rails of a frog (see frog, 3). wink (wink),
v. i.; winked (wirjkt) or, Rare, winkt; wink'ing. [AS. wincian."] 1. To
close and open the eyelids quickly ; blink. 2. To avoid seeing or
noting, as if by shutting the eyes ; connive ; — usually used with at.
3. To give a hint or sign by a wink. 4. To flicker ; twinkle. Syn. Wink,
blink. Lit., to wink is to close and open the eyelids rapidly ; to blink is
to wink with half-shut eyes, as if dazzled, or scarcely awake. Fig.,
wink implies connivance or conveyance of a hint ; blink, evasion or
shirking. — y. t. 1. To cause (the eyes) to wink. 2. To effect by
winking ; as, to wink back one's tears. — n. 1. Act of winking, esp.
with one eye ; hence, a hint thus given. 2. Time required for a single
wink ; instant ; twinkling. 3. Act of closing the eyelids in or as in
sleep ; hence, a sleep ; nap. Colloq. 4. A sparkle ; gleam ; twinkle.
wink'er (-er), n. One who, or that which, winks ; hence : a A horse's
blinder, b An eyelash. Colloq. or Dial. win'kle (win'k'l),_ n. [AS. wincle
(in comp.).] Any of various marine spiral gastropods ; esp., U. S.,
either of two species of periwinkle (Fulgur canaliculata and F. carica).
win'ner (wTn'er), n. One who, or that which, wins. win'ning
(win'Ing), n. 1. Act of one who wins. 2. That which one wins ; —
often used in pi. — a. That wins ; being a winner ; hence : attractive
; charming. winning gallery, Court Tennis, the netted opening
farthest from the dedans ; — so called because a ball played into it
is counted as winning. — w. hazard. See hazard, n. 5. — w.post, the
post, or goal, at the end of a race course. win'ning-ly, adv. In a
winning manner. Win'now (wm'o), v. t. [AS. windwian.] 1. To drive
off the chaff from by wind ; fan ; as, to winnow grain. 2. To separate
or sift, as good from bad, etc. ; analyze and assort. 3. To disperse or
scatter by or as if by wind. 4. To beat with or as with wings ; make
(one's way) by flying. — v. i. To separate chaff from grain by
fanning. — n. 1. A device for winnowing. 2. Act of winnowing ; also,
a motion like, or likened to, that of winnowing. — win'now-er (-er),
n. win'some(-swm),a. [AS. wynsum, fr. wynn joy.] 1. Causing joy or
pleasure ; pleasant ; winning. 2. Cheerful ; merry ; light-hearted. —
win'some-ly, adv. — some-ness, n. Win/ter (-ter), n. [AS.] 1. The
season of the year in which the noonday sun shines most obliquely ;
the coldest season of the year; hence, cold weather. North of the
equator, winter generally, in popular use, includes December,
January, and February. 2. A period suggestive of winter; a period of
decay, old age, death, or the like. — v. i. To pass the winter ;
hibernate. — v. t. To keep, feed, or manage during the winter. —
win'ter-er, n. winter aconite. A small Old World ranunculaceous herb
(Cammarum hyemale) producing its bright yellow flowers often
before snow is off the ground. It is often cultivated. Win'ter-ber'ry
(wTn'ter-ber'i), n. Any of various American species of holly {Ilex)
having bright red berries persistent through the winter. win'ter-
green' (-gren'), n. 1. In Great Britain, any of various plants (genus
Pyrola, esp., P. minor) having basal persistent leaves and white, pink,
or purple flowers. In the United States these plants are called false,
or English, wintergreen, or, more often, shinleaf. 2. In the United
States, an evergreen herb (Gaultheria procumbens) with white bell-
shaped flowers and red berries called checkerberries, or sometimes,
erroneously, partridge berries. The leaves yield oil of wintergreen.
win'ter-kill' (-kilO, v. t. To kill by winter exposure. U. S. — v. i. To die
from exposure to the cold of winter. win'ter-tide' (win'ter-tid'), n.
[AS. wintertld.'] Also win'ter-time7 (-tlm'). Winter. win'ter-y (-T), a.
Wintry. win'try (win'tri), a. ; win'tri-er (-tn-er) ; -tri-est. Of or pert, to
winter ; cold ; stormy. — win'tri-ness (-tri-nes), n. win'y (win'i), a.
Having the qualities of wine ; vinous. winze (wmz), n. Mining. A
shaft between levels, or any small shaft, for ventilation, exploration,
ore chutes, etc. wipe (wlp), v. t.; wd?ed (wipt) ; wrp'iNG (wTp'ing).
[AS. wipian.] 1. To rub lightly, or with something soft, for cleaning.
2. To draw, pass, or the like, for or as for rubbing or cleaning ; as, to
wipe the hand across the forehead. 3. ale, senate, care, am,
account, arm, ask, sofd; eve, event end, recent, maker; Ice, HI; old,
obey, 6rb, odd, soft, connect; use, unite, um, up, circus, menu;
food, foot; out, oil; chair; go; sing, ink; then, thin; nature, verdure
(87);
WIPER 1097 WITCH-HAZEL "' To rub off ; obliterate ; —
usually used with away, off, or out. 4. Plumbing. To form (a joint
between pieces of lead piping) by applying semifluid solder and
shaping by rubbing with a greased cloth pad or the like. — n. 1. Act
of rubbing, esp. to clean. 2. Dial, or Slang. a A blow; swipe, b A
gibe; jeer. 3. A handkerchief. Thieves' Cant or Slang. 4. Mack. A
wiper, or cam. Wip'er (wlp'er), n. 1. One who, or that which, wipes.
2. Mach. A projecting part, as on a rotating or reciprocating piece,
acting on another piece, esp. for raising a part that falls by its own
weight. wire (wir), n. [AS. wir.~\ 1. A thread or very slender rod of
metal, usually round. 2. A telegraph wire or cable; Colloq., the
telegraph system or a telegram. 3. A system of wires for operating
puppets ; Colloq., the hidden influences controlling tb/ action of a
person or organization ; — chiefly in pi. ; as, to pull the wires for
office. 4. An imaginary line marking the finish of a horse race. Racing
Cant. — v.t.& i.; wired (wlrd) ; wir'ing (wlr'ing). 1. To provide with
wire, or to use wire on, esp. for binding or fastening. 2. To
telegraph. Colloq. 3. To snare by a wire or wires. 4. Croquet. To
place (a ball) so that the wire of a wicket prevents a successful shot.
Wire cloth. A fabric of woven metallic wire, used for strainers, in
paper manufacture, etc. wire'draw' (wlr'droO, v. t. 1. To draw (metal)
into wire. 2. To draw or stretch forcibly ; also, to draw or spin out to
great length or excessive refinement. draw'er, n. Wire gauze. A
gauzelike texture of fine wires. wire glass. Glass in which wire
netting is embedded. Wire grass, a A European meadow grass (Poa
compressa) widely naturalized in the United States and Canada, b
Any of several other grasses having wiry culms or leaves. Wire'less
(wlr'les), a. Having no wire or wires ; specif., Elec, designating, or
pert, to, a method of telegraphy (wireless telegraphy), telephony,
wireless telephony, etc., in which the messages are transmitted
through space by electric waves without connecting wires ; as, a
wireless message. Cf . RADIOTELEGRAPHY. — 71. Short f Or
WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY, wireless telephony, etc. — wire'less-ly, adv.
wire'man (wlr'man), n. = lineman, 3. Wirepulling (-pooling), n. Act of
pulling wires; esp., Colloq., the influencing, or the use of means to
influence, secretly the acts of a person or organization, esp. in
politics.— wire'pull'er (-er), n. Colloq. Wir'er (wlr'er), n. One who
wires, or uses wire ; esp., a trapper who uses a wire trap. Wire
tapper. One who taps telegraph wires and intercepts messages ;
hence, Slang, a swindler who pretends to secure advance
telegraphic news for betting. — wire tapping. Wire'work' (-wurkO, n.
Work, esp. openwork, of wires. Wire'works' (-wurks'), n. pi. ;
sometimes construed as sing. A factory where wire is made, or one
where wire is used in the manufacture of other articles. —
wire'work'er, n. Wire'worm' (wir/wurm/), n. 1. A larva of any of
various species of snapping beetles, or elaters ; - — so called from
its hard skin. 2. A millepede. [distribution.] Wir'ing (wlr'ing), n. A
system of wires, esp. for electric | wir'y (-1), a.; wir'i-er (-i-er) ; wir'i-
est. 1. Made of or like wire. 2. Capable of endurance; tough; sinewy.
— wir'i-ly, adv. — i-ness (-nes),n. wis (wis), v. t. [Due to mistaking
ME. iwis certain, AS. gewiss, for I wis, in which wis was taken to be
part of wit to know.] To think ; suppose ; — chiefly in I wis. Archaic.
Wis'dom (wiz'diim),n. [AS. wisdom. See wise, a. ; -dom.] 1. Quality
of being wise ; knowledge with capacity to use it ; perception of the
best ends and best means ; sagacity. 2. Scientific or practical
knowledge ; erudition ; learning. 3. A wise saying or act. Rare. —
Syn. See knowledge. Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach. =
Ecclesiasticus. — W. of Solomon, an essay on Wisdom as the divine
agent in the creation and government of the world ; — included in
the Old Testament by the Roman Catholic Church. Wisdom literature.
The class of ancient Hebrew writings which deal reflectively with
general ethical and religious topics. It is comprised chiefly in the
books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom of
Solomon. Wisdom tooth. The back tooth of the full set on each half
of each jaw in man ; — popularly so called because appearing from
the 17th to the 21st year or later. wise (wiz), a. ; wis'er (wlz'er) ;
wis'est. [AS. wis.'] 1. Discerning and judging soundly concerning
what is true or false, prooer or improper ; choosing the best ends
and best •means; discreet; sagacious. 2. Dictated or guided by
wisdom ; as, a wise saying or plan. 3. Shrewd ; wary ; subtle. 06s.
or Rare. 4. Having knowledge; learned; as, "wise to do evil. " 5.
Versed in some art, science, or craft ; skilled; specif., skilled in
divination. Syn. Discerning, judicious, sensible, sane, prudent,
provident, politic, expedient, sound, enlightened, well-advised. —
Wise, judicious, sensible, sane, prudent, provident, politic,
expedient. Wise implies sound and discerning judgment, esp. in
affairs of life and conduct ; judicious suggests a wise discretion ;
sensible implies sagacity, or accordance with the dictates of common
sense ; sane connotes esp. balance and lucidity. Prudent implies
cautious forethought, or circumspection ; provident suggests more
definitely practical foresight and economy. Politic implies diplomatic,
sometimes artful, often cunning, management ; that is expedient
(often contrasted with right) which conduces to (frequently selfish)
advantage. wise (wiz), n. [AS. wise."] Way of being or acting ;
manner ; fashion ; — chiefly used in in any wise, in no wise, on this
wise, etc. -wise. An adverbial suffix denoting way, manner, -ways; —
properly the noun wise in composition. wise'a-cre (wlz'a-ker), n.
[OD. wijssegger or G. weissager a foreteller, prophet, deriv. of OHG.
wizzago a prophet.] 1. A wise person. Archaic. 2. A pretender to
wisdom; hence, in contempt : a simpleton ; dunce. Wise'ly, adv. In a
wise manner. wish (wish), v. i. [AS. wyscan.'] To desire ; long ; —
usually used with an infinitive or for ; as, he wishes to go ; they wish
for the day. — v. t. 1. To long for ; crave ; desire. 2. To frame or
express a desire concerning ; to desire (one) to be (in some
specified place or condition) ; — taking an objective complement
(predicate adj., etc.) or an objective clause ; as, to wish one happy ;
wish that it would rain. 3. To invoke or desire in favor of, or against,
any one; as, to wish one happiness or harm. — Syn. See desire. —
n. 1. Eager desire ; longing. 2. Expression of desire ; request ;
petition. 3. Object of desire. — wish'er, n. Wish'bone' (wish'bon'), n.
The forked bone in front of the breastbone in most birds ; the
merrythought. wish'ful (-fool), a. Having or showing desire; longing;
wistful. — wish/ful-ly, adv. — wish'ful-ness, n. wish'y-wash'y (-l-
wosh'i), a.; -wash'i-er; -i-est. Thin and pale ; weak ; spiritless ; —
orig. said of liquids. Colloq. wisp (wisp), n. [ME. wisp, wips.~\ 1. A
small bunch, as of straw. 2. A whisk, or small broom. 3. An ignis
fatuus. wist (wist), pret. of wit, know. wis-ta'ri-a (wTs-ta'n-d), wis-
te'ri-a (-te'n-d), n. [NL., after Caspar Wistar (1761-1818), Amer.
anatomist.] Any of a genus (Kraunhia) of fabaceous climbing shrubs,
esp. a species, as the Chinese wistaria {K. chinensis), cultivated for
its racemes of purple flowers. wist'ful (wist'fool), a. [F 'or wishful.']
1. Longing ; wishful ; desirous. 2. Full of thought or musings ;
meditative ; pensive. — wist'ful-ly, adv. — wist'ful-ness, n. wit (wit),
v. t. & i. ; pres. sing, wot, pi. wite ; pret. wist(e) ; p. p. wist ; p. pr. &
vb. n. wit'(t)ing. [ME. witen, pres. ich wot, wat, I know (wot), pret.
wiste, AS. witan, pres. wat, pret. wiste, wisse.~\ To know ; learn ; —
now used only archaically or in to wit, chiefly a legal expression,
equivalent to namely. wit (wit), n. [AS.] 1. Mind ; intellect ;
understanding ; sense. 2. A mental faculty or power ; — chiefly in pi.
; as, to lose one's wits. 3. Felicitous perception or expression of
associations between ideas or words not usually connected such as
to produce an amusing surprise ; also, power of such perception or
expression. 4. A witty person. at one's wit's end, in a dilemma ; at
the limit of one's mental resources. Syn. Wit, humor. Wit is more
purely intellectual than humor, and implies swift perception of the
incongruous ; it depends for its effect chiefly on ingenuity or
unexpectedness of turn, or patness of application ; humor implies,
commonly, broader human sympathies than wit, and a more kindly
sense of the incongruous, often blended with pathos. wit'an (wit'an),
n. pi. [AS., pi. of wita sage, councilor.] Lit., wise men; specif., A.-S.
Hist., the members of the national, or king's, council which sat to
assist the king in administrative and judicial matters ; also, the
council. witch (wich), n. [AS. wicce, fern., wicca, masc] 1. One
regarded as having supernatural or magical power by compact with
an evil spirit, esp. the Devil ; a sorcerer or sorceress ; — now said
chiefly or only of women. 2. An ugly old woman ;-hag ; crone. 3. A
charming or bewitching person, esp. a woman or child ; also, one
given to mischief. Colloq. — v. t. 1. To bewitch ; fascinate. 2. To
effect by sorcery, or witchcraft. Witch broom. Hexenbesen.
Witch'craft' (-kraftO, n. 1. The practices or art of witches ; sorcery ;
intercourse with evil spirits. 2. Witchery. witch doctor. Among
Africans, esp. Kafirs, a magician, or shaman, whose business it is to
detect or "smell out" witches and to counteract magic spells and
influences. witch'-elm'. Var. of wych-elm. witch'er-y (wich'er-p, n.; pi.
-eries (-Iz). 1. Sorcery. Now Rare. 2. Fascination ; irresistible
influence. witch'es'-be'som, witch'es'-broom', n. = hexenbesen.
witch grass, a Couch grass, b A panic grass (Panicum capillare) with
slender brushlike panicles. witch'-ha'zel, n. [See wych-elm ; hazel.]
1. A shrub (Hamamelis virginiana) of eastern North America, K = ch
in G. ich, ach (50); boN; yet; zh = z in azure. Numbers refer to
Sections in Guide to Pronunciation. Explanations of Abbreviations
used In this work, Signs, etc., precede Vocabulary. || Foreign Word.
+ combined with. => equals. < 4
N WITCHING 1098 WOLFRAMITE R U w ■ having hazel-like
leaves and small yellow flowers appearing after the leaves have
fallen. 2. An extract of the bark of this plant, reputed as a remedy
for bruises, sprains, etc. Witch'ing, n. Witchcraft. — a. That witches,
or enchants ; suited to enchantment or witchcraft ; bewitching.
wit'e-na-ge-mof, wit'e-na-ge-mote' (wit'e-na-g?-mot'), n. [AS. witena
gemot. See witan ; gemot.] A.-S. Hist. The assembly or council of
the witan. with (with), prep. [AS. in'?.] In general, with denotes a
relation of contact or association. It expresses : 1. Opposition ; —
now used only after fight, contend, vie, etc. 2. Association in
accompaniment, conjunction, or interaction ; hence : among ; in the
company of ; as, come with me. 3. Association in alliance,
assistance, harmony, etc. ; hence, on the side of ; as, " Fear not, I
am with thee " ; is he with us or against us ? 4. Association in the
way of simultaneousness ; as, the light disappeared with the fire. 5.
Association in sphere or jurisdiction ; hence : in the estimation or
opinion of ; as, such arguments had weight with him. 6. Association
in thought or concern ; as, I am satisfied with him. 7. Association in
possession, attribute, or belonging ; as, he left the box with me ; the
firmament with its stars. 8. Causal connection ; indicating : a Simple
cause ; by reason of ; as, to die with hunger, b The agent. Obs. C
The instrument or means ; as, to tire one with words, d An
accessory, as of contents, material, etc. ; as, to fill a box with straw.
9. An accompaniment of manner ; as, to set to with a will. 10.
Proximity or contact as a point of separation; as, he parted with me
at the door. — Syn. See by. with that, thereupon ; after that. With-al'
(with-61'), adv. Together with this; likewise; moreover ; at the same
time ; also. Archaic. — prep. With; — put after its object; as, "Why,
what a consort are we now blessed withal." Archaic. with-draw'
(with-dro'), v. t.; for prin. parts see DRAW. [with against, back +
draw."] 1. To take back or away ; draw back, as aid or favor. 2. To
recall or retract, as, a threat or statement. — v. i. To retire ; retreat ;
recede. with-draw'al (-31), n. Also with-draw'ment. Act of
withdrawing ; as : a Removal, b Retraction. C Retreat. With-
draw'ing-room', n. A drawing-room. Rare. Withe (with; with), n. [AS.
wippe.] A flexible twig or branch used as a band ; withy. With'er
(with'er), v. i. & t. [ME. wideren.] 1. To dry or shrivel up ; lose
freshness, smoothness, vigor, etc. ; fade. 2. To decay ; decline ;
languish. Syn. Wither, shrivel. To wither is to lose freshness or (esp.)
become dry and faded ; to shrivel is to draw up or shrink into
wrinkles. With'er-ite (-it), n. [After Dr. W. Withering.'] Min. Native
barium carbonate, BaC03, which occurs in white or gray crystals,
and also in columnar or granular masses. See BARIUM. withe'— rod'
(with'rod'; with'-), n. A North American caprifoliaceous shrub
(Viburnum nudum) with tough osierhke shoots, or a related species
(V. cassinoides). With'ers (with'erz), n. pi. [Prop., parts that resist
the pull in drawing ; fr. ME. wither resistance, AS. wiSer, fr. wider
against.] 1. The ridge between the shoulder bones of a horse. 2. The
corresponding part in other animals. with-hold' (with-hold'), v. t. & i.
; for prin. parts see hold. [with against, back + hold.] 1. To hold
back or in ; check ; restrain ; refrain from action. 2. To refrain from
granting, etc. ; as, to withhold assent. — with-hold'er, n. with-in' (-
in'), adv. 1. In the inner part; inwardly; internally ; interiorly. 2. In
the house, room, etc. ; indoors. — prep. 1. In the inner or interior
part of ; inside of. 2. In the limits or compass of ; as : a Not farther
or longer than (in length or time) ; as, within a mile ; within an hour,
b Not exceeding in quantity ; as, within one's income. 3. Inside the
limits, reach, or influence, of. With-OUt' (with-out'), adv. 1. On or at
the outside; outwardly ; externally. 2. Outside of the house ;
outdoors. 3. With the lack or absence of something indicated ; —
also construed as an absolute use of the preposition ; as, if no help
comes, we must do without. — prep. 1. At or on the outside of. 2.
Out of the limits of ; beyond. 3. Not with ; as : a In absence of ;
lacking ; as, without delay, b Exclusive of. — conj. Unless ; except.
Rare or Dial. with-stand' (-stand'), v. t. & i. ; -stood' (-stood') ; -
stand'ing. To stand against, esp. successfully ; oppose ; resist.
With'y (with'i ; with'i), n. ; pi. withies (-Iz). [AS. wlSig willow, willow
twig.] A withe. — a. Like a withe ; flexible and tough. witless
(wit'les), a. Destitute of wit, or understanding; hence : indiscreet ;
foolish. less-ly, adv. less-ness, n. witling (-ling), n. A person of little
wit ; pretender to wit. Wit'ness (-nes), n. [AS. witness, gewitness,
knowledge, testimony, a witness (person), fr. witan to know.] 1.
Attestation of a fact or an event ; testimony. 2. Law. a One who
testifies, or gives evidence before a judicial tribunal. b One called on
to be present at some transaction to be able to testify to its having
taken place. 3. That which serves as or furnishes evidence or proof.
4. One, as a beholder, who has personal knowledge of anything.
—.«.«._ 1. Law. To act as a witness of ; specif., to see the execution
of, as an instrument, and subscribe it to establish its authenticity. 2.
To testify to ; attest. 3. To give evidence of ; evidence. 4. To see or
know by personal presence. — v. i. To testify. — wit'ness-er, n.
wit'ted (-ed; 24), a. Having wit, or understanding; — used esp. in
combination ; as, haM-witted. wit'ti-cism (wit'I-siz'm), n. A witty
saying. wit'ti-ly (-Mi), adv. In a witty manner. wit'ti-ness, n. Quality
of being witty. wit'ting-ly (-ing-li), adv. Knowingly; with knowledge.
Wit'tol (wit'wl), n. [From witwall, the bird, associated with the
cuckoo.] A submissive cuckold. Obs. Wit'ty (wit'i), a. ; -ti-er (-I-er) ; -
ti-est. 1. Possessing wit (in sense 3) ; good at repartee ; cleverly
facetious ; sometimes, sarcastic. 2. Marked by wit ; as, a witty
saying. Syn. Witty, facetious. Witty implies quick and clever speech
(esp. repartee) or sparkling pleasantry ; facetious commonly
suggests waggishness or jocularity. wit'wall' (-wol'), n. A European
spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopus major). Local, Eng. & Scot. wive
(wlv), v. i.; wived (wivd) ; wrv'rNG (wTv'ing).' [AS. wifian.] To marry
a woman. — v. t. 1. To marry to a woman. 2. To take for a wife.
Rare. wi'vern (wl'vern), n. [OF. wivre, guivre, fr. L. vipera viper.] Her.
A fabulous two-legged, winged creature, like a cockatrice, but having
a dragon's head. wives (wlvz), n., pi. of wtfe. wiz'ard (wlz'drd), n.
[ME. wysard; prob. fr. wis (E. wise, a.) + -ard.] 1. A wise man ;
sage. Obs. 2. A magician ; sorcerer. — a. Magical ; hence :
enchanting ; charming. — wiz'ard-ly, a. [magic. I wiz'ard-ry (-ri), n.
Character or practices of wizards;! wiz'en (wTz''n ; dial, also we'z'n),
v. i. & t. [AS. wisnian.] To wither ; shrivel ; dry. Obs. or Scot. & Dial.
Eng. — a. Thin ; withered ; as, "A little lonely, wizen boy." wiz'ened
(-'nd), p. a. Dried ; shriveled ; withered ; shrunken ; weazen ; as, a
wizened old man. woad (wod), n. [AS. wad.] A European
brassicaceous plant (I satis tinctoria), formerly grown for the blue
dyestuff yielded by its leaves ; also, the dyestuff. — woad'ed, a.
woad'wax'en (-wak's'n), n. [AS. wuduweaxe.] A yellowflowered
fabaceous shrub {Genista tinctoria) of Europe and Russian Asia,
adventitious in America. woald (wold). Var. of weld. Wo'den
(wo'den)ln. [AS. Woden.] Teut. Myth. Odin. Wo'dan (wo'dan)J
Wednesday is named for him. woe (wo), n. Also WO. [ME. wo, wa,
woo, AS. wa, interj.] Grief ; sorrow ; misery ; also, a heavy calamity
; affliction. — Syn. See sorrow. — woe worth, woe be to. See
WORTH, V. i. XWWoe is now chiefly literary or poetic. It is used, with
a dative construction or its equivalent, in denunciation and in
exclamations of sorrow ; as, woe to sinners ; woe is me. woe'be-
gone'l (wo'be-gon' ; 62), a. Beset or overwhelmed WO'be-gone' /
with woe ; woeful ; hence, indicating woe. woe'full (-fool), a. 1. Full
of woe ; sad. 2. Bringing, or WO'ful / pert, to, woe. 3. Paltry ; poor ;
wretched. — woe'ful-ly, wo'-, adv. — woe'ful-ness, wo'-, n. wold
(wold). Var. of weld, plant. WOld (wold), n. [AS. weald, wald, a
wood, forest.] A plain or a low hill ; a region without woods. wolf
(woolf ), n. ; pi. wolves (woolvz). [AS. wulf.] 1. Any of certain large
doglike carnivores (genus Canis), esp. a European species (C. lupus)
or one allied to it. 2. Any of various small coleopterous or
lepidopterous larvae which infest granaries. 3. A very fierce,
rapacious, or destructive person. 4. Music. In instruments played
with a bow, a harshness due to faulty vibration in certain notes.
WOlf'ber'ry (-ber'i), n. A western American shrub (Symphoricarpos
occidentalis) bearing white berries. Wolff 'i-an (w661'fi-an), a. Anat.
Discovered or first described by Caspar Friedrich Wolff (1733-94).
Wolffian body, Emoryol., one of a pair of functional renal organs
found in most vertebrate embryos, and becoming the kidneys in
fishes and amphibians ; the mesonephros. wolf fish. Any of several
large marine blennies (family Anarhichadidse) notable for their
ferocity. wolfhound' (wdblf 'hound'), n. A dog of any of several
breeds originally used for hunting wolves. The Russian wolfhound
resembles the greyhound, but its hair is soft, silky, and wavy or
slightly curly. The Irish wolfhound is heavier throughout, has a wiry
coat, and closely resembles the deerhound. wolfish (wool'fTsh), a.
Like a wolf . — wolf ish-ly, adv. wol'fram (wool'fram ; wol'-), n. [G.]
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