weal

n. The mark of a stripe. See Wale. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To mark with stripes. See Wale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. wele, AS. wela, weola, wealth, from wel well. See Well, adv., and cf. Wealth. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A sound, healthy, or prosperous state of a person or thing; prosperity; happiness; welfare. [ 1913 Webster ]

God . . . grant you wele and prosperity. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

As we love the weal of our souls and bodies. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

To him linked in weal or woe. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Never was there a time when it more concerned the public weal that the character of the Parliament should stand high. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The body politic; the state; common wealth. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The special watchmen of our English weal. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Balanced or considered with reference to public weal. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. See Wold. ] A wood or forest; a wooded land or region; also, an open country; -- often used in place names. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fled all night long by glimmering waste and weald,
And heard the spirits of the waste and weald
Moan as she fled. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Weald clay (Geol.), the uppermost member of the Wealden strata. See Wealden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ AS. weald, wald, a forest, a wood. So called because this formation occurs in the wealds, or woods, of Kent and Sussex. See Weald. ] (Geol.) Of or pertaining to the lowest division of the Cretaceous formation in England and on the Continent, which overlies the Oolitic series. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Geol.) The Wealden group or strata. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a weald, esp. to the weald in the county of Kent, England. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]