wed

v. t. [ imp. Wedded; p. p. Wedded or Wed; p. pr. & vb. n. Wedding. ] [ OE. wedden, AS. weddian to covenant, promise, to wed, marry; akin to OFries. weddia to promise, D. wedden to wager, to bet, G. wetten, Icel. veðja, Dan. vedde, Sw. vädja to appeal, Goth. gawadjōn to betroth. See Wed, n. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To take for husband or for wife by a formal ceremony; to marry; to espouse. [ 1913 Webster ]

With this ring I thee wed. Bk. of Com. Prayer. [ 1913 Webster ]

I saw thee first, and wedded thee. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To join in marriage; to give in wedlock. [ 1913 Webster ]

And Adam, wedded to another Eve,
Shall live with her. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Fig.: To unite as if by the affections or the bond of marriage; to attach firmly or indissolubly. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou art wedded to calamity. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men are wedded to their lusts. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Flowers ] are wedded thus, like beauty to old age. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To take to one's self and support; to espouse. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

They positively and concernedly wedded his cause. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. wedd; akin to OFries. wed, OD. wedde, OHG, wetti, G. wette a wager, Icel. veð a pledge, Sw. vad a wager, an appeal, Goth. wadi a pledge, Lith. vadůti to redeem (a pledge), LL. vadium, L. vas, vadis, bail, security, vadimonium security, and Gr. &unr_;, &unr_; a prize. Cf. Athlete, Gage a pledge, Wage. ] A pledge; a pawn. [ Obs. ] Gower. Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let him be ware, his neck lieth to wed [ i. e., for a security ]. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. (Ethnol.) See Veddahs. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Joined in wedlock; married. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let w&unr_;alth, let honor, wait the wedded dame. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of or pertaining to wedlock, or marriage. “Wedded love.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Wether. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. wedding. ] Nuptial ceremony; nuptial festivities; marriage; nuptials. [ 1913 Webster ]

Simple and brief was the wedding, as that of Ruth and of Boaz. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Certain anniversaries of an unbroken marriage have received fanciful, and more or less appropriate, names. Thus, the fifth anniversary is called the wooden wedding; the tenth, the tin wedding; the fifteenth, the crystal wedding; the twentieth, the china wedding; the twenty-fifth, the silver wedding; the fiftieth, the golden wedding; the sixtieth, the diamond wedding. These anniversaries are often celebrated by appropriate presents of wood, tin, china, silver, gold, etc., given by friends. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Wedding is often used adjectively; as, wedding cake, wedding cards, wedding clothes, wedding day, wedding feast, wedding guest, wedding ring, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let her beauty be her wedding dower. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wedding favor, a marriage favor. See under Marriage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Weather. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Wedged p. pr. & vb. n. Wedging. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To cleave or separate with a wedge or wedges, or as with a wedge; to rive. “My heart, as wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To force or drive as a wedge is driven. [ 1913 Webster ]

Among the crowd in the abbey where a finger
Could not be wedged in more. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He 's just the sort of man to wedge himself into a snug berth. Mrs. J. H. Ewing. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To force by crowding and pushing as a wedge does; as, to wedge one's way. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To press closely; to fix, or make fast, in the manner of a wedge that is driven into something. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wedged in the rocky shoals, and sticking fast. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To fasten with a wedge, or with wedges; as, to wedge a scythe on the snath; to wedge a rail or a piece of timber in its place. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Pottery) To cut, as clay, into wedgelike masses, and work by dashing together, in order to expel air bubbles, etc. Tomlinson. [ 1913 Webster ]