▪ I. weel1 Sc. and north.
(wiːl)
Forms: 1 wǽl, 3 wel, 4, 6 wele (4–5 welle), 6 vele, 6–7 weill, 7 weell, 8–9 wiel, weil, wheel, 9 weal, 4, 7–9 weel.
[OE. wǽl masc. and neut. = WFris. wiel, OLow Frankish wâl (pl. wâlâ), ‘abyssus’, MDu. wael (Flem. weele), MLG. wêl (LG. weel, weele, whence mod.G. wehl masc., wehle fem.).]
A deep pool; a deep place in a river or the sea; a whirlpool or eddy.
| c 897 ælfred Gregory's Past. C. Envoy 469 Ac se wæl wunað on weres breostum..diop & stille. c 1000 ælfric Gram. ix. (Z.) 52 Hic gurges þis wæl, þæt is, deop wæter. c 1200 Ormin 19690 Godd..Þatt mihhte hemm alle..Inn helle wel bisennkenn. c 1275 XI Pains of Hell 89 in O.E. Misc. 149 Of vych a wrm þat atter bereþ..Ifulled is þat fule pool... Hwenne þe feondes heom [lost souls] forleteþ, Snaken and neddren heom imeteþ, And dreyeð heom in-to a wel Þer heo þolyeþ al vnsel. a 1300 Cursor M. 2903 Bituixand þai sink in þat wele þar neuer man sank þat was o sele. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xxxv. 9 And with welle [Harl. weel] of þi liking ai Sal tou drinke þam [Vulg. torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos]. 1483 Cath. Angl. 413/1 A Welle, gurges. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. ii. 13 Tybir flowand soft and esely, Wyth swirland welis [L. verticibus rapidis] and mekle ȝallow sand. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. p. xlviii, The gretest vele heirof is namit Corbrek; for it will othir sink, or ellis draw ane schip to it, howbeit it be distant thairfra ane mile. 1553 Rec. Burgh Lanark (1893) 26 Sir Jhone Cunygam..settis the tan half of his bait gangand apone Sant Katrynis weill in Clydisholm to Wylyam Pumfra. 1599 A. Hume Hymnes iii. 211 The bels and circles on the weills, Throw lowpping of the trouts. 1674 Ray N.C. Words, Weel, Lanca. a whirlpool. 1683 in Nairne Peerage Evid. (1874) 18 From the said foord of Gellie to the weell of Buckmenem. 1786 Burns Halloween xxv, Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays,..Whyles in a wiel it dimpl't. a 1800 Rare Willie viii. in Child Ballads IV. 182/2 In the deepest weil in a' the burn, Oh, there she fand her Willie! 1817 Scott Rob Roy xxxvi, The deep waters and weils o' the Avondow. 1818 W. Phillips Geol. 113 The pool of still water or wheel, above the falls. 1834 Hogg Dom. Manners Scott (1909) 59 In a few minutes we reached Gleddie's Weal, the deepest pool in all that part of Tweed. 1909 Jedburgh Gaz. 28 May 3/7 A large, deep pool known as the ‘Old Weal’. |
b. attrib.
| 1703 Thoresby Let. to Ray, A Wheel-pit, whirl-pool. a 1800 Young Hunting xvii. in Child Ballads II. 153/1 They douked in at ae weil-heid, And out aye at the other. |
▪ II. weel2
(wiːl)
Forms: α. 3–5 wyle, 6 wyele, 7 wile; 6 wyll(e, whyll. β. 5 wele (5–6 welle), 5–7 weele (6 weyle, weale), 7– weel, (6 Sc. weill, 7 well, 9 weal); 6–9 wheel (7 wheele).
[OE. wile- (in wile-w{iacu}se), a reduced form of wiliᵹe, wilie basket: see willy. The form wele, weel is a normal development from this.]
1. A wicker trap for catching fish, esp. eels.
| 1256 Northumb. Assize Roll (Surtees) 103 Fit destructio [in the Tyne] salminiculorum per wyles et per minuta retia. 1369–70 Acc. Obedientiars Abingdon Abbey (Camden) 19 In wylys et pottus, iij s. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 18057 Lyke a wyle in a ryver, to cache the fysche bothe fer and nere; the entre large, the comynge out is so strayt, it stant in dout. 1450–1 Acc. Obedientiars Abingdon Abbey (Camden) 130 Et in welez emptis pro piscibus capiendis in fossato Conuentus, iiij s. x d. 1483 Cath. Angl. 413/1 A Welle, nassa. 1510 Stanbridge Vocabula (W. de W.) C vj b, Nassula, a wyll, or a leepe. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. Z 1 b, One hath robbed my wyele, predo nassam diripuit. 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 87 Watch ponds, go looke to weeles and hooke. 1649 E. Reynolds Hosea iii. 26 We are like Fishermens wheels, wide at that end which lets in the Fish, but narrow at the other end, so that they cannot get out againe. 1725 Bradley's Family Dict., Weel,..made of Osier-twigs, which are supported by Circles or Hoops, that go round, and are ever diminishing;..Its Mouth is somewhat Broad, but the other end terminates in a Point: It's so contrived, that when the Fishes are got in, they cannot come out of it again, because of the Osier Twigs, which advance on the inside, to the Place where the Hoops are, and which stop the Passage, leaving but a small opening there. 1769 Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 163 It does not often take a bait, but is generally caught in weels. 1873 Act 36 & 37 Vict. c. 71 §15 Any basket, trap, or device for taking fish, except wheels or leaps for taking lamperns. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 125 Weels used on the apron of Weirs for taking Lamperns. 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 163 The movable eel-trap or ‘grig-wheel’, like a crayfish basket, only larger. |
b. in fig. context.
| 1639 Mayne City Match iii. iv, 'Slight who would think your Father should lay weeles To catch you thus? 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 80/1 A weele with two ends, or holes: for fish to get in at; which when in, there is no getting out againe, from whence came the proverbe, I catched him with a weele: that is I got him in so, that he could not get out. 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. xiv, When did you ever hear that..any body ever got out of this Weel without leaving something of his behind him. |
c. Her. A conventional representation of such a fish-trap, borne as a charge.
| 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 80/1 He beareth Azure, a Weele with its hoope vpward, Or. 1780 Edmondson Her. II. Gloss., Weel, for catching of fish, is always drawn in armory, as in Plate VIII. Fig. 39. c 1828 Berry Encycl. Her. I. Gloss. |
d. attrib., in † weel-net.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 218 Weaving them close together in a round and large forme, after the maner of a fishers leape or weele net. |
2. A basket, esp. one in which fish are kept.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 319 Moyses..was putte in a weele made of rishes [L. in fiscella scirpea] dressede with picche, and caste in to the water. Ibid. IV. 353 The fader and mother abhorrenge to sle theire owne son..putte hym in a wele in to the see. 1530 Palsgr. 287/2 Welle or lepe for fysshe, bouticle. 1651 T. Barker Art of Angling (1659) 44 Providing a little weele made of wicker to carry their fish. 1659 Torriano, Cavágna..a fisher's-weel, or haske. 1678 Littleton Dict., Lat.-Eng., Fiscella,..a wile wherein fishes are kept. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 125 Hard Weels [are] large baskets in which eels and lamperns are kept alive until sold. |
▪ III. weel(e
obs. forms of weal n.1, well.