▪ I. weltering, vbl. n.
(ˈwɛltərɪŋ)
[f. welter v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of turning or twisting the body about (on the ground), rolling (in the mire), wallowing (in sin), etc. Now rare or Obs.
| 1448–9 J. Metham Amoryus & Cl. 1631 This lyoun..Wypt on the gres hys blody mowth; and in hys welteryng Made alle blody Cleopes kerchyff in hys wypyng. 1520 M. Nisbet N.T. in Scots, 2 Pet. ii. 22 The hound turnit agane to his spewing, and a sow [that] is weschin in weltring [Wycl. walwyng] in fenn. 1586 T. B. La. Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. 206 All kind of superfluitie, riot, and weltring in pleasures. |
† 2. The action of rolling or turning round; unstable condition; political agitation. Obs.
| 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. clxiii, To se the sudayn weltering Of that Ilk quhele [of Fortune]. a 1586 Sidney Astr. & Stella Sonn. xxx, If in the Scottish Court be weltering yet. 1588 in Rep. Commiss. Univ. Scot. (1837) III. 193 In this confused tyme (quhen all folkis ar loukand to the weltering of the warld). |
3. The rolling and tossing (of waves); the surging (of water, the sea). Also fig.
| 1805 Wordsw. Prelude vi. 138 The surpassing life..incapable of change, Nor touched by welterings of passion. 1827 Pollok Course T. v. 595 And oft in dreams, the..sinner..heard the weltering of the waves of wrath. 1851 Trench Poems 73 'Mid the long weltering of the dreariest surge. 1867 Morris Jason iv. 681 A figure standing, with wide wings of gold, Upright, amid the weltering of the sea. |
▪ II. ˈweltering, ppl. a.
[f. welter v.1 + -ing2.]
1. Of the sea: That tumbles and tosses; raging, surging.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 719 The Se wald rys on sic maner, That off the wawys the weltrand hycht Wald refe thaim oft off thar sycht. c 1420 Wyntoun Cron. iv. 203 Qwhil þe weltrande wawis keyn Sulde a part asswagit beyn. 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. c, In the huge weltering wawis..Off lufis rage. 1587 Turberv. Trag. Tales, Epit. etc. 170 No..wrath of weltring waues could stay, those martiall mates at home. 1629 Milton Hymn Nativ. xii, While the Creator Great..bid the weltring waves their oozy channel keep. 1771 Beattie Minstr. i. liv, The deep roar Of the wide-weltering waves. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. (1859) 7 The straining and groaning of bulk-heads, as the ship laboured in the weltering sea. 1870 Bryant Iliad xiv. 20 As when the face Of the great deep grows dark with weltering waves. 1897 F. T. Bullen Cruise of ‘Cachalot’ 306, I trembled for his life in such a weltering whirl of rock-torn sea. |
b. That is in a state of agitation, turmoil, or confusion.
| 1831 Carlyle Misc., Nibelungen Lied (1840) III. 71 A firm sunny island amid the weltering chaos of antique tradition. 1850 Kingsley Alton Locke xxviii, The weltering mass of bullocks, pigs, and human beings. 1879 Farrar St. Paul I. xviii. 329 That vast weltering mass of idolatry and corruption. 1890 J. Pulsford Loyalty to Christ I. 195 You restless, heaving, weltering kingdoms of Time, mock us not. |
† 2. Sc. a. Moving clumsily or unsteadily. b. Rolling. Obs.
| c 1480 Henryson Trial of Fox 111 The wyld Once, the Buk, the Uelterand Brok. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. iii. xl, Thair micht I se..The welterand stone wirk Sisipho mich cair. |
3. That is tossed about on or by the waves.
| 1609 Healey Discov. New World iii. ii. 129 They..hold it fondnesse to hazard their liues either on a stumbling iade, or in a weltring barge. 1810 Scott Lady of L. vi. xx, Another flash!—the spearman floats A weltering corse beside the boats. 1879 Farrar St. Paul II. xliii. 377 They had drifted fourteen days, tossed up and down on the heaving waves of Adria, a weltering plaything for the gale. |
4. Lying prostrate in blood; saturated with blood.
| 1816 Byron Ch. Har. iii. li, And Slaughter heap'd on high his weltering ranks. ― Siege Cor. xvii, It is humbling to tread O'er the weltering field of the tombless dead. |