▪ I. † wrought, n. Obs. rare.
In 3 wrohte, 4 w(h)rouhte.
[Early ME. var. of wruhte (OE. wryhta), wright n.1]
= wright n.1 1, 1 b.
| c 1275 Lay. 16969 Wrohtes, þat mid axe couþen weorche. Ibid. 21134 Wigar þe wittye wrohte. a 1333 W. Herebert in Relig. Lyrics 14th C. (1924) 22 Holy wrouhte of sterres bryht. Ibid. 27 Louerd god almyhti, Whrouhte of alle þinge. |
▪ II. wrought, ppl. a.
(rɔːt)
Forms: 3–4 wroȝt, 5–6 wroght, 5– wrought (6 arch. wroughten), 5 wrout, 7 wrote.
[ME. wroȝt, var. worht, pa. pple. of wirchen, wurchen: see work v.]
Worked into shape (or condition).
Freq. as the second element of combs., as fine-, finely-, gold-, hammer-, hand-, hard-, high-, highly-, machine-, thick-, thin-, well-wrought: see these words, and cf. in-, for-, over-, unwrought ppl. adjs.
I. † 1. a. Created; shaped, moulded. Obs.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2606 Teremuth..bad it ben to hire broȝt, And saȝ ðis child wol faire wroȝt. c 1400 [see well-wrought ppl. a. 1]. 1434 Misyn Mending Life 126 God truly is infinit of gretnes,..of all wroght kyndes vnconsauyd. |
b. That is made or constructed by means of labour or art; fashioned, formed.
Cf. OE. hand-worht, = mod. E. ‘hand-wrought’.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1381 With a wonder wroȝt walle wruxeled ful hiȝe. 1338, c 1400, etc. [see well-wrought ppl. a. 1]. 1624 in Archaeol. (1806) XV. 161, 3 pare of wrote boote hose. 1660 R. Read Wecker's Secr. Art 220 Lay with every bed of your wrought and drawn Glass one of the said pieces of Glass. 1676 Lady A. Fanshawe Mem. (1830) 189 A rich curious-wrought gold chain. 1696 Derham Clock-maker 4 The wrought piece which covers the Balance..is the Cock. 1700–1 Act 12–13 William c. 4 §1 For want of Assayers..to assay and touch their wrought Plate. 1739 Act 12 Geo. II, c. 26 §6 Any wrought Seal or Seals with Cornelian or other Stones set therein. 1818 Keats Endym. i. 165 After them appear'd..a fair wrought car. 1850 Rossetti Blessed Damozel ii, Her robe..No wrought flowers did adorn. 1875 Fortnum Maiolica 107 Most elegantly wrought earthen vases. 1890 Young Ann. Barber-Surg. Lond. 506 Handsomely chased and wrought silver garlands. |
c. Shaped, fashioned, or finished from the rough or crude material; cut.
| 1560 Bible (Bishops') Numb. xxxi. 51 Moses & Eleazar..toke the golde of them, and all wroght iewels. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Aug. 134 To him be the wroughten mazer alone. 1611 Bible 1 Chron. xxii. 2 Hee set masons to hew wrought stones. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. iii. xxvi, Her lips rock⁓rubies, and her veins wrought sapphires show. 1818 Keats Endym. ii. 623 The water..mimick'd the wrought oaken beams. 1841 Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 355 The country exports..the marble of Carrara, both wrought and unwrought. 1854 S. G. Morton Types Mankind 357 Large quantities of wrought bones, human and animal. |
† 2. Artificial; specially prepared. Obs.
| c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Govt. Lordsh. 83 He sholde..caste vp-on his heued wroght waters attempred. Ibid. 85 Thre Rotes of wroght hony. [tr. L. artificialis.] |
3. a. Of textile materials, esp. silk: Manufactured; spun. (Cf. raw a. 2 a.)
| 1463–4 Rolls of Parlt. V. 506/1 Wrought Silke, throwen Rybans and Laces, falsely..wrought. 1503–4 Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 21, All other maner of Sylkes, aswell wrought as rawe or unwrought. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 336 The riches of the Kingdome are especially silkes, wrought and unwrought. 1694 E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. (ed. 18) i. 37 Merionethshire..abounds with Sheep, Fish, Fowl, and wrought Cottons. 1728 Chambers Cycl. (1738) s.v. Silk, The silks brought from Italy are partly wrought, and partly raw, and unwrought. 1841 Haydn Dict. Dates 472 Wrought silk was brought from Persia to Greece 325 b.c. |
b. Decorated or ornamented, as with needlework; elaborated, embellished, embroidered.
| 1455 Lincoln Diocese Doc. 67 [A] Wrought bordcloth cum j. pari towalles de eadem. 1475 Stonor Papers (Camden) I. 155 Item..j. large wrought Bordeclothe. 1552–3 in Feuillerat Revels Edw. VI (1914) 104 Purple wrought vellet. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. xiii, A light taffeta garment, so cut, as the wrought smocke came through it in many places. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. iii, As a Millaners wife [conceals] her wrought stomacher with a smokie lawne. 1599 ― Ev. Man out of Hum. iv. iv, A piece of my wrought shirt. 1614 Boyle in Lismore Papers (1886) I. 50 A veary fair wrought purse. a 1680 Charnock Attrib. God (1682) 609 A curious wrought Tapestry. 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2152/4 A green wrought Sattin Ribon. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 91 ¶5 My Mistress presented me with a Wrought Nightcap. 1711 Hermit 25 Aug. 2/1 The old Tapestry Hangings and Wrought Bed [must be] pulled down. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. ii. xix, A wrought Spanish baldric. c 1816 Mrs. Sherwood Stories Ch. Catech. vii. 45 [She] had on a wrought muslin frock. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre xi, Beds..with wrought old English hangings crusted with thick work. 1851 [see wristlet 2]. |
| transf. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 310 A third sort of Melons..are wrought or embroider'd, having amidst the embroidery red, yellow, and green spots. |
c. Of leather, etc.: Prepared by dressing; dressed.
| 1541 Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 454 Quhat craftisman that braks the samyn [act], the rest of his wrought ledder to be escheitt. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 130/1 Linum factum,..wrought or hitchild flax. |
d. Of articles: Made, manufactured, or prepared for use or commerce.
| c 1580 in Eng. Hist. Rev. July (1914) 518 Pilchars and Red herringe, wrought Lime. 1584–5 Act 27 Eliz. c. 16 §1 Any Artificer using to work Leather into wrought Wares. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 17 Sept. 1657, Some habits of curiously⁓colour'd and wrought feathers. 1757 Refl. Importation Bar Iron 19 The Americans..would..take more wrought Goods from the British Manufacturers. 1803 Malthus Popul. iii. x. 459 The whole value of the wrought commodity. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 444 Wrought rosin, or shoe⁓maker's rosin. 1851 Catal. Gt. Exhib. 865 The traders..purchase the wrought articles from the heads of the lapidary workmen. |
4. a. Of metals: Beaten out or shaped with the hammer or other tools.
| 1535 Coverdale Ps. xliv. 13 Hir clothinge is of wrought golde. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 403/1 Argentum factum,..wrought siluer, as plate, coyne, &c. 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v. Ouvré, Wrought Silver,..wrought Brass. 1696–7 Act 8–9 William III, c. 34 §1 Evrey Hundred weight of Tin wrought commonly called Pewter. 1717 Berkeley Jrnl. Tour Italy Wks. 1871 IV. 555 Gold and silver, wrought and unwrought, found along the side of the little sea. 1819 Shelley Fragm., Tale Untold 3 Empty cups of wrought and daedal gold. 1885 Mag. Art Sept. 459/1 A circular plate of thin wrought bronze. |
| Comb. 1893 Outing XXII. 111/1 A wrought-gold bracelet. |
b. wrought iron, slag-bearing malleable iron (see iron n.1 1 and malleable a. 1).
| 1703 Act 2–3 Anne c. 18 §12 Wares made of Wrought Iron. 1747 Phil. Trans. XLIV. ii. 371 Cannon..cast so soft as to bear Turning like wrought Iron. 1837 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 1/1 The rails are of wrought-iron,..fixed in cast-iron chairs. 1876 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. 473/2 Wrought iron is valuable as a gun material. 1881 [see iron n.1 2 a]. |
| Comb. 1829 W. Ellis Polyn. Res. II. 298 A wrought-iron nail..four inches long. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2823/2 Wrought-iron Furnace, ..[a] puddling-furnace. 1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay xi, Great old wrought-iron gates. |
c. Of metal-work: Made by hammering or hand-work (in contrast to cast).
| 1807 W. Irving Salmag. xii, His learned distinctions between wrought scissors and those of cast-steel. 1810 in Ure Dict. Arts (1839) 875 Cut nails are full as good as wrought nails. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps ii. §20 Ornaments..of cast-iron..are always distinguishable, at a glance, from wrought and hammered work. 1883 W. D. Curzon Manuf. Worcs. 2 The wrought work of ploughs and..blacksmiths' work of all kinds. |
† 5. transf. Worked up; rough; agitated. Obs.
| 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. iii. 33 The wind still continuyng.., and the seas sore wrought. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 368 The billowes of a wrought sea. 1604, 1702 [see high-wrought a. 1]. |
6. a. Of coal: Hewn from the bed or seam; won.
| 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 28 The Horse Engin..serves..to draw up the Wrought Coals. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining 295 Wrought coal, etc., worked or gotten. |
b. Dug; moved by digging, etc.
| 1903 Blackw. Mag. Feb. 222/1 As the shelving banks close in there is a smell of the wrought earth. |
7. Of animals: Employed in labour; worked.
| 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v. Ox, Wrought Oxen in the Seasons they are put to labour, ought to be fed with Care. |
II. With adverbs.
8. wrought-off, worked off; printed.
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxii. ¶7 He uses one of the Wrought-off Forms. 1771 Luckombe Hist. Print. 409 Then we impose from wrought-off Forms. 1838 Timperley Printers' Man. 114 Wrought-off heaps [of paper]. |
9. wrought-up, stirred up; excited or stimulated; enlivened.
| 1810 Crabbe Borough xv. 67 He knew..How to make all the passions his allies, And..To watch the wrought-up heart, and conquer by surprise. 1823 Mrs. Hemans Siege of Valencia i, The deep..feelings wakening at their voice, Claim all the wrought-up spirit to themselves. 1828 Lytton Pelham III. xi, Excited as I had been by my painful and wrought-up interest in his recital. 1962 Auden Dyer's Hand (1963) 508 Whereupon we are shown Antony talking to his friends in a wrought-up state of self-dramatization and self-pity. |
▪ III. wrought
pa. tense and pple. of work v.
▪ IV. wrought(e
erron. ff. rought, obs. pa. tense of reach v.1