ˈwetness
Also 1 wétnis, 5–6 wetenes, 6 -ness(e, 7 weatness; 4–6 wette-, wetnes(se.
[f. wet a. + -ness.]
a. The fact or condition of being wet; also concr., moisture, wet.
| α c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke viii. 6 Oðer feall ofer stan and..fordruᵹade forðon ne hæbde wetnise. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 546 The king..of that wetenes [sc. tears] was affraied That by his arme and his shuldres ran. 1530 Palsgr. 288/1 Wetenesse, moilleure, moisteure. 1546 Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees) 285 The weteness of the grounde and grete inundations of waters. 1573 Kent & Surrey Sewers Comm. (1909) 163 These men..were extreamly hindred thorowe the extreamenes of the wetenesse of the wether. 1664 J. Carstaires Lett. (1846) 149 See that it be kept verie dry, the least weatness will much prejudice me. |
| β c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace 10352 Schal he neuere take scathe, Ne haue wetynge [Petyt MS. haf wettenes] ne waþe. c 1400 tr. Higden (Rolls) VII. 149 A lanterne..þat myȝt nouȝt be quenched nouþer wiþ wynde ne wiþ none moysture ne wetnes. 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 99 What worser for barlie than wetnes and cold? 1577 Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. 141 b, The wettenesse hereof doth not onely hurt..their feete, but also spoyleth their coates. 1645–50 Boate Ireland's Nat. Hist. xxi. §3 (1652) 165 Which inconstancy and wetness of the weather is..troublesome to men. 1699 L. Meager New Art Garden. 42 If the Vine stands against damp Walls, the wetness perishes the Clusters that touch it. 1765 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 136 The wetness of land from its situation may be prevented. 1794 Vancouver Agric. Cambridge 57 This meadow land..in that state of wetness. 1846 J. Baxter's Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 229 The suffocating wetness and cold of the furrows. 1871 B. Stewart Heat §152 The sensation of dryness or wetness does not depend upon the absolute amount of aqueous vapour present in one cubic foot of air. |
b. A wet spot or patch of ground.
| 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. Pl. xlvi, The plan of draining wetnesses on the tops of hills and banks. |
c. Feebleness, ineptness.
Cf. wet a. 15 b.
| 1977 Times 29 Sept. 4/1 It was surely not Liberal ‘wetness’, as the incoming president, Mr. Gruffydd Evans, termed their traditional virtues of niceness and fairmindedness. 1981 R. D. Edwards Corridors of Death vii. 33 A profession which regards loyalty as weakness and decency as wetness. 1983 Times 4 Nov. 7/1 The idea that an ally has a right to independent judgment is too easily dismissed as what Mrs Thatcher might describe..as wetness. |