Nearby Words

wade

[weyd] ,verb, wad·ed, wad·ing, noun
verb (used without object)
1.
to walk in water, when partially immersed: He wasn't swimming, he was wading.
2.
to play in water: The children were wading in the pool most of the afternoon.
3.
to walk through water, snow, sand, or any other substance that impedes free motion or offers resistance to movement: to wade through the mud.
4.
to make one's way slowly or laboriously (often followed by through): to wade through a dull book.
5.
Obsolete. to go or proceed.
verb (used with object)
6.
to pass through or cross by wading; ford: to wade a stream.

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Wade is one of our favorite verbs.
So is hornswoggle. Does it mean:
to run away hurriedly; flee.
to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.
noun
7.
an act or instance of wading: We went for a wade in the shallows.
8.
wade in/into,
a.
to begin energetically.
b.
to attack strongly: to wade into a thoughtless child; to wade into a mob of rioters.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English waden to go, wade, Old English wadan to go; cognate with German waten, Old Norse vatha; akin to Old English wæd ford, sea, Latin vadum shoal, ford, vādere to go, rush

un·wad·ed, adjective
un·wad·ing, adjective


4. labor, toil, plod, plow, work.

Example Sentences
  • Wade were to be overturned, a variety of state laws across the country might go into effect.
  • Freshmen in college wade through a blizzard of calculus, physics and chemistry in lecture halls with hundreds of other students.
  • Parents with small children wade in the shallows near the sandy beach.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

Wade

[weyd]
noun
1.
Benjamin Franklin, 1800–78, U.S. lawyer and antislavery politician.
2.
a male given name.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To wade
Collins
World English Dictionary
wade (weɪd)
 
vb (often foll by through)
1.  to walk with the feet immersed in (water, a stream, etc): the girls waded the river at the ford
2.  to proceed with difficulty: to wade through a book
3.  (intr; foll by in or into) to attack energetically
 
n
4.  the act or an instance of wading
 
[Old English wadan; related to Old Frisian wada, Old High German watan, Old Norse vatha, Latin vadumford]
 
'wadable
 
adj
 
'wadeable
 
adj

Wade (weɪd)
 
n
(Sarah) Virginia. born 1945, British tennis player: Wimbledon champion 1977

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

wade
O.E. wadan "to go forward, proceed," in poetic use only, except as oferwaden "wade across," from P.Gmc. *wadan (cf. O.N. vaða, Dan. vade, O.Fris. wada, Du. waden, O.H.G. watan, Ger. waten "to wade"), from PIE base *wadh- "to go," found only in Gmc. and L. (cf. L. vadere "to go," vadum "shoal, ford,"
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vadare "to wade"). The notion is of "to advance into water." It. guado, Fr. gué "ford" are Gmc. loan-words. Originally a strong verb (p.t. wod, pp. wad); weak since 16c. Figurative sense of "to go into" (action, battle, etc.) is recorded from late 14c.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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