The Prisoner of Zenda (64 page)

walking the plank
PHRASE
walking the plank was a punishment in which a prisoner would be made to walk along a plank on the side of the ship and fall into the sea, where they would be abandoned
about hanging, and walking the plank
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

want
VERB
want means to be lacking or short of
The next thing wanted was to get the picture framed
(
Emma
by Jane Austen)

wanting
ADJ
wanting means lacking or missing
wanting two fingers of the left hand
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

wanting, I was not
PHRASE
I was not wanting means I did not fail
I was not wanting to lay a foundation of religious knowledge in his mind
(
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe)

ward
NOUN
a ward is, usually, a child who has been put under the protection of the court or a guardian for his or her protection
I call the Wards in Jarndcye. The are caged up with all the others.
(
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens)

waylay
VERB
to waylay someone is to lie in wait for them or to intercept them
I must go up the road and waylay him
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

weazen
NOUN
weazen is a slang word for throat. It actually means shrivelled
You with a uncle too! Why, I knowed you at Gargery's when you was so small a wolf that I could have took your weazen betwixt this finger and thumb and chucked you away dead
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

wery
ADV
very
Be wery careful
o' vidders all your life
(
Pickwick Papers
by Charles Dickens)
See
wibrated

wherry
NOUN
wherry is a small swift rowing boat for one person
It was flood tide when Daniel Quilp sat himself down in the wherry to cross to the opposite shore.
(
The Old Curiosity Shop
by Charles Dickens)

whether
PREP
whether means which of the two in this example
we came in full view of a great island or continent (for we knew not whether)
(
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift)