▪ I. wheat, n.
(hwiːt)
Forms: 1 hwæte, 2–3 hwete, 3–6 wete, 4–5 wheet(e, whet, 4–6 whete, 6–7 wheate, (1 huæte, 3 whæte, hweate, 4 huete, whyte, wit, 5 wheytt, white, 5–6 whett(e, whyt, 6 wheitt, whaytt, whiett, wett(e, weate), 6– wheat; Sc. and north. dial. 4–5 quhet, qwet, 5–6 quhete, qwheit, 5–7 quheit (4 quete, 5 qw(h)ete, qwheet, qhete, qwete, qwyte, qwyet, quhe(y)t, 6 quheitt, quhait, quheite, qwheytte, queat, quhyt(t, vhyt).
[OE. hwǽte str. m. = OFris. *(h)wête (NFris. wêtte), OS. hwêti (MDu. weite, Du. weit), MLG. weiten, wêten (LG. weten), OHG. weiȥȥi, (MHG. weiȥe, weitȥe, G. weizen), ON. hveiti (Sw. vete, Da. hvede), Goth. hwaiteis:— OTeut. *χwaitjaz, derivative of *χwīt- white.]
1. a. The grain of a cereal (see sense 2), furnishing a meal or flour which constitutes the chief breadstuff in temperate countries.
| c 825 Vesp. Ps. lxiv. 14 [lxv. 13] Convalles abundabunt frumento, dene ᵹenyhtsumiað hwæte. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. iii. 12 He ᵹegaderað hys hwæte on his bern. c 1200 Ormin 10527, I þa þatt swelltenn winndweþþ Crist & clennseþþ here hiss whæte. c 1220 Bestiary 292 in O.E. Misc. 10 Ðe mire suneð ðe barlic, Ðanne ȝe fint te wete. a 1225 Ancr. R. 270 Ane wummon..þet windwede hweate. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 18 Vor engelonde is vol inoȝ, of frut, & ek of tren, Of wit [v. rr. whyte, whyt] & of wolle god. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 10091 Þe vble ys made of whete, Þe louelyest corne þat men ete. 13.. Cursor M. 22327 (Gött.) Þe mett of qwet, als it es tald, For a peni it sal be sald. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxvi. (Nycholas) 214 In þe hawine schipis gret Ware arywit, chargit with quhet. c 1480 Henryson Two Mice 361 Full benelie stuffit..Of beinis, and nuttis, peiss, ry, and quhite. 1485 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 291 The busshell of whette be boghte for xii. d. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon viii. 187 The rasour of whete was solde for fourty shelynges and twenty pence. 1550–3 Decaye Eng. in S. Fish Supplic., etc. (1871) 99 Allowe to euery person ij. quarters of weate. 1556 Chron. Grey Friars (Camden) 4 Thys yere a bushelle of wett was at five shillings. 1569 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 218, L. stroke queat unbarrowed. 1603 Dekker Batchelars Banquet Wks. (Grosart) I. 176, I can tell you their mouthes will not be stopt with a bushell of wheat that speake it. 1833 Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 167 An ill-used race of men..Storing yearly little dues of wheat, and wine and oil. |
b. in allusive and proverbial use: often opposed to
chaff,
tares.
| a 1225 Juliana 79 Hwen drihtin o domes dei windweð his hweate. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 59 It were a schort beyete To winne chaf and lese whete. 1561 Winȝet Bk. Questions Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 120 Guid and euill, expressit in the Euangell, be the similitude of quheit and fitcheis. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Pain, Quiers tu meilleur pain que de fourment? Wouldst thou haue better bread then's made of wheat? 1639 J. Clarke Parœm. 46 Malt is above the wheat with him. Cylicum remiges. 1874 Sankey's Sacred Songs (1878) 11 Let us keep the wheat and roses, Casting out the thorns and chaff. 1874 C. E. Norton Lett. (1913) II. 38 He had now got a good handful of pure wheat to offer in the place of his common sackful of the most unnutritious chaff. |
2. a. The cereal plant (closely related to barley and rye) which yields this grain,
esp. common wheat,
Triticum vulgare (
sativum), cultivated in temperate climates.
With qualification denoting a particular kind, as duckbill
wheat,
goat's-wheat (
goat 4 c),
Guinea wheat,
Indian wheat (
Indian a. 4 b),
Lammas-wheat (
Lammas n. 4),
Poland1 wheat,
pollard wheat (
pollard n.2 B. 1),
red wheat,
rivet-wheat (
rivet n.2 b),
spelt-wheat (
spelt n.1 2),
summer wheat (
summer n.1 4 c),
turkey wheat,
white wheat,
winter wheat; also applied to some plants of other genera, as
buckwheat,
cow-wheat,
French wheat (
French a. 5).
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xiii. 25 Mið ðy uutedlice ᵹeslepdon..ða menn cuom fiond his & ofer-ᵹeseawu..sifðe In middum hwæte. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 692 Hue tilede in hur time on þe touh erþe, & whete soþliche sew. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxviii. (W. de W.) V ij/2 Of whete is dowble kynde: One manere kynde is red wythout..and is moost whyte wythin, & heuy... The other manere whete is yelowe wythout and clere and whyte wythin: and is lyghte. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxx. 134 In þis cuntree es lytill qwheet or barly. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. xi. 80 Sithis, and all hukis that scheris quheit. 1580 Tusser Husb. (1878) 49 Graie wheat is the grosest, yet good for the clay... Much like vnto rie be his properties found. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. i. i. 185 When wheate is greene, when hauthorne buds appeare. 1603 G. Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 60 A third kinde of wheate..which is called holie wheate or sommer wheate. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ix. 415, I found the Wheat here growing higher then my head. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 846/1 The three principal kinds of bad wheat are, the blighted, the smutty, and the worm-eaten. 1867 H. Macmillan Bible Teach. v. (1870) 103 Wheat will not thrive in hot climates. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. (1870) I. ii. 587 The tall wheat, coloured by the August fire Grew heavy⁓headed. |
b. The pale gold colour of ripe wheat. Also
wheat-gold.
| 1915 Wodehouse Something Fresh iii. 83 Joan Valentine was a tall girl, with wheat-gold hair. 1965 [see French roll s.v. French 3 b]. 1970 New Yorker 8 Aug. 1 (Advt.), Great embroidered coat of cotton-polyester in wheat with pumpernickel trim. 1977 M. Herr Dispatches 175 He was wearing a denim workshirt and wheat jeans. 1983 Harrods Mag. Spring & Summer 104/2 Cotton trousers in White, Wheat, Slate Blue or Navy. 1984 H. Hirt Heat of Winter i. 2 His face was..very fair—what the Indian matrimonial advertisements describe as a ‘wheat’ complexion. |
3. pl. Wheat-plants; crops of wheat; kinds of wheat.
| 1795 Scots Mag. LVII. 544/1 In Lancashire..their wheats are not yet on the bloom. 1797 Sporting Mag. X. 297 The new Wheats already thrashed out. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 429 They are frequently also sown on the young wheats and clovers in the spring. 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 339 The bread of Perth in particular, where those wheats are alone used, equals any in the united kingdom. 1888 Daily News 13 Oct. 2/6 Foreign white wheats..have hardened to a small advance on the week. 1894 Times 22 Jan. 4/1 The young wheats..looking little or none the worse for their week beneath the snow. |
4. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
wheat-acre,
wheat-area,
wheat-awn,
wheat-barn,
wheat-belt (
belt n.1 5 a),
wheat-blade,
wheat-blossom,
wheat-blossoming,
wheat-braird,
wheat-bran,
wheat-bread,
wheat-breeder,
wheat-breeding,
wheat-cake,
wheat-chaff,
wheat-close (
close n.1 2),
wheat cocky Austral. (
cocky n.2 2),
wheat-colour,
wheat country,
wheat-crop,
wheat-crust,
wheat-drill,
wheat-eddish,
wheat-fallow,
wheat-farm,
wheat-farmer,
wheat-farming,
wheat-feed,
wheat-field,
wheat-firlot,
wheat-flour,
wheat futures (
future n. 6),
wheat-garner,
wheat-glean (
glean n.1 1),
wheat-grain,
wheat-ground,
wheat-grower,
wheat-harvest,
wheat-haulm,
wheat-house,
wheat-loaf,
wheat-loft,
wheat-lumper,
wheat-lumping,
wheat-malt,
wheat-mill,
wheat-mow,
wheat-pit (
pit n.1 11),
wheat-plant,
wheat-producer,
wheat-production,
wheat ranch,
wheat rancher,
wheat-reed (
reed n.1 2 c),
wheat-rick,
wheat-ridge,
wheat-riping,
wheat-screenings (
cf. screen n.1 5),
wheat-scrip (
scrip n.4),
wheat-seed,
wheat-seeding,
wheat-sheaf,
wheat-sowing,
wheat-stack,
wheat-stalk,
wheat-starch,
wheat-straw,
wheat-stubble,
wheat-threave,
wheat-wine;
wheat-bellied,
wheat-blazing,
wheat-coloured,
wheat-fed,
wheat-growing,
wheat-hid adjs.; applied to insects, fungi, etc. destructive to wheat, as
wheat-bug,
wheat-caterpillar,
wheat-gall-fly,
wheat-gnat,
wheat-insect,
wheat-joint-worm,
wheat-louse,
wheat-maggot,
wheat-midge,
wheat-mildew,
wheat-mite,
wheat-moth,
wheat-plant-louse,
wheat-weevil,
wheat-worm; applied to implements used in obtaining or preparing the wheat-grain, as
wheat-brush,
wheat-dryer,
wheat-flail,
wheat-heater,
wheat-ridder,
wheat-riddle,
wheat-separator,
wheat-sieve.
b. Special
Combs.:
wheat-barley = naked barley (
naked a. 12 c);
wheat berry, the grain of wheat;
wheat-bird, a bird that feeds on wheat,
esp. the chaffinch; also, in North America, the horned lark,
Eremophila alpestris;
wheat bulb fly, the larva of a muscid fly,
Hylemyia coarctata, which attacks the base of wheat stems;
wheat-duck, the American widgeon,
Mareca americana, found in flocks in wheat-fields;
wheat-fish, the squeteague;
wheatflakes n. pl. (
orig. U.S.), a breakfast cereal made from flaked and flavoured wheat (
cf. cornflakes n. pl. s.v. corn n.1 11);
wheat-fly, name for various insects whose larvæ infest the wheat plant, as the Hessian fly, the wheat-midge, etc.;
wheat germ, the embryo of the wheat grain, extracted during milling, and valued as a source of vitamins;
wheat-grass, (
a) name for various species of the genus
Triticum,
esp. couch-grass,
T. repens; (
b) a creeping perennial grass of the genus
Agropyron;
wheat-lay dial., the sowing of land with wheat;
wheat-rent, in the Channel Islands, wheat paid as rent (
cf. quarter n. 4 b);
wheat roll, a roll made of wheatmeal bread;
Wheat State, in the
U.S., a popular nickname for Kansas or Minnesota; also used of South Australia. See also
wheat-corn, etc.
| 1876 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 177 The blue *wheat-acre is underneath. |
| 1884 Spectator No. 2932. 1165 Whether the *wheat-area of the world will be maintained. |
| 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. lxxiv, I caught a limb, and tore it (like a *wheat-awn) from the socket. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. viii. 460 Hordeum Nudum. Naked or bare Barley, *Wheate Barley. |
| 1377 in Cal. Close Rolls 509 [The grange called the] *wheteberne. 1474–5 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 156 Pro tectura..super le Whetebarn Manerii de Eluet. 1543 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 42 In the whiett barne, whaytt and rye. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 196 Eve. Naked *wheatbellied sin. |
| 1863 Harper's Mag. Oct. 718/1 The enterprising town..is the wheat-market for a considerable section of the *wheat-belt of the state. 1910 Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 205/2 The laying out of ready-made farms in the wheat-belts of North-West Canada. 1980 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts Mar. 175/2 In the wheat belts in the USA and Australia there were..large areas still undeveloped. |
| 1848 Rep. Comm. Patents 1847 (U.S.) 373 Taking the outer coating or bran from the *wheat berry previous to grinding produces the following important results. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 20 Sept. 8/1 The wheatberry, to become blood, bone, and flesh, must be broken up. |
| 1746–7 M. Catesby in Phil. Trans. XLIV. 444 They [sc. exotic Birds] arrive [in Virginia] annually at the time that Wheat..is at a certain Degree of Maturity... They have attain'd the Name of *Wheat-Birds. 1865 Wheat bird [see Peabody]. 1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. ii. 212 Horned Lark..[also called] Prairie Bird; Road Trotter; Wheat Bird. |
| 1867 Emerson Poems, May-day 201 The dead log touched bursts into leaf, The *wheat-blade whispers of the sheaf. |
| 1937 Blunden Elegy 60 Seek the wide *wheat-blazing plain. |
| 1733 Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. xiii. 154 The nipping Winds..which..might destroy the tender *Wheat Blossoms. |
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 299 The cows milk abates about *wheat-blossoming time. |
| 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 150 The *wheat-braird was strong. |
| 14.. Sir Beues (C.) 1622 + 21 Ȝyt was he wonte before eche day,..Of *whyte brawne to haue a messe. a 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula etc. 75 Tak whete branne als myche as sufficeþ. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 257 If a little Wheat-bran is boiled in our ordinary Beer. 1946 Nature 31 Aug. 293/1 The fungus was grown in various modifications of Czapek–Dox medium with addition of manganese sulphate, in some cases with..autoclaved wheat-bran extract. |
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. vii. 120 Þough *whete bred me faille. 1552 2nd Prayer-bk. Edw. VI, Commun. rubric, The best and purest wheate bread, that conueniently maye be gotten. 1703 J. Brand Descr. Orkney 18 As for Wheat-bread it is rare. 1862 M. D. Colt Went to Kansas 83, I live entirely on food made of corn..leaving the wheat bread for grand-ma and grand-pa. 1880 [see southern a. 4 c]. 1978 Listener 10 Aug. 180/3 Oatcakes, potato cakes and wheat bread were cooked deliciously on a griddle. |
| 1912 Rep. 13th Meeting Australasian Assoc. Adv. Sci. 536 (heading) The realization of the aims of William J. Farrer, *wheat breeder. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia III. 1157/2 Wheat breeders regularly produce new varieties. |
| 1898 W. J. Farrer Let. 30 Aug. in R. Archer William James Farrer (1949) xiv. 109, I should continue to carry on the *wheat-breeding work at Lambrigg. 1965 Austral. Encycl. IX. 284b (caption) Wheat⁓breeding plots at the Temora Experiment Farm. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 945/1 *Wheat Brush, a device for scouring grain. |
| 1860 Curtis Farm Insects Index, *Wheat-bugs. Miris tritici and M. erraticus. |
| 1883 E. A. Ormerod Rep. Observations Injurious Insects 1882 20 *Wheat-bulb fly..was observable early in March. 1921 Jrnl. Agric. Sci. XI. 98 Wheat-bulb fly..does not appear to do much harm in a wet, cold, or damp summer. 1975 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Sept. 67/1 The topics covered in the first few months of the scheme include cereal mildew, wheat bulb fly, yellow rust. |
| 1772 M. Patten Diary (1903) 293 His wife baked a parcel of *Wheat Cakes for me when I went up to Cockermouth. 1865 A. D. Whitney Gayworthys 218 There are wheat-cakes and maple syrup for your breakfast. 1981 J. Dunning Deadline (1982) xix. 191 Trudy fixed him a breakfast of eggs and bacon and wheat cakes. |
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxxi. III. 277 This door is to serve the moth for its exit, like that formed by the *wheat-caterpillar. |
| 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 46 *Wheat chaffe lay vp drie. 1847 W. C. L. Martin Ox 149/1 Supposing that the stomach be distended by light materials, as wheat-chaff, chopped straw. |
| 1599 George a Greene C j b, Madge pointed to meete me in your *wheate close. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxix, He's in Gaffer Gabblewood's wheat-close. |
| 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Mar. 13 A good, typical S. Australian public man—a *wheat cocky. 1941 K. Tennant Battlers xxi. 228 Like many another broken ‘wheat cocky’..Jim might be packing his kids and wife into his old truck any time now. |
| 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 150 The hair on the upper [lip] being thin and short of a *wheat Colour. |
| 1898 Westm. Gaz. 10 Mar. 3/2 The *wheat-coloured straw. |
| 1776 New-York Gaz. 24 June 3/3 To be Sold..a very good Grist-Mill..in a very good *Wheat Country. 1890 Stock Grower & Farmer 29 Mar. 5/3 The panhandle country..is a fine wheat country. 1979 Tanous & Rubinstein Wheat Killing (1980) ix. 55 We were in the flat wheat country drained by the Missouri River. |
| 1581 Durham Wills (Surtees) II. 42 All the *wheat crope, that is sowen upon my farmhold. 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 338 That my wheat-crops would be hurt by the north-easterly winds. 1857 Miller Elem. Chem., Org. (1862) xiii. §1. 834 Land which might have been supposed to have been exhausted of its phosphates by a previous wheat-crop. |
| 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. ii. ii. 65 Your course *wheat-crust would bee kneaded with hot-water. |
| 1733 Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. xxii. 318 In the Side of a Mortise of a *Wheat-Drill. |
| 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 113/1 Model of the Patent *Wheat Dryer. |
| 1888 G. Trumbull Names & Portraits of Birds 21 He found this species [sc. the American widgeon] in enormous flocks on the wheat⁓fields, and..it was there called the *wheat-duck. 1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. I. 120 Wheat Duck..is very fond of wild celery. 1980 Hunting Ann. 1981 40/3 A wigeon in one region would be called a baldpate in another area or wheatduck in another. |
| 1764 Museum Rust. II. xxiv. 76 Immediately after harvest I turn them on the *wheat eddishes. |
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 20 They..will not allow a load of..dung at harvest to come through their *wheat-fallow. |
| 1958 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxx. 6 Farmers who have large *wheat-farms. |
| 1870 Rep. Comm. Agric. 1869 (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 5 The *wheat farmer..is not joyous over his market returns. 1959 Cape Times 18 July 2/5 Wheat farmers welcomed the good rains. |
| 1965 Austral. Encycl. IX. 285/2 The most spectacular change in *wheat-farming practice in recent years. |
| 1892 Times (weekly ed.) 2 Feb. 89/3 The *wheat-fed pork of the North West. |
| 1932 Daily Tel. 8 Oct. 4/2 Oats quiet of sale... Millers' *wheatfeed quiet. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 29 Mar. 4/2 Demand for wheatfeed is steady. |
| 1425 in Rep. MSS. Ld. Middleton (1911) 108 That no man take away his bestes fro the comyn herd..to go in the *qwete feld to lese the qwete. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 209 By laying corne-grounds and wheat-fields to his owne demaines. 1840 Longfellow Sp. Stud. iii. i, Over the wheat-fields, where the shadows sail. |
| 1771 Encycl. Brit. II. 706/2 That the *wheat firlot shall contain 19 pints and two joucattes. |
| 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 111 The Squeteague.. Some old authorities use the name ‘*Wheat-fish’. |
| 1903 Bull. Maine Agric. Exper. Station No. 84, 143 Fruen's Best *Wheat Flakes, ‘made from the best Pacific Coast White Wheat’. 1939 G. Greene Lawless Roads ii. 45 He looked up from his dry wheat flakes. 1970 M. Kelly Spinifex ii. 37 A grocer size wheatflakes box. |
| a 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula etc. 31 When..þer is added þerto white of eiren and oyle, wiþ wax and *whete floure. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxx[i]. 16 He shulde fede them with the fynest wheate floure. 1639 O. Wood Alph. Bk. Secrets 102 Fry them together till they be thick with a little wheatflower. 1766 Phil. Trans. LVII. 456 A mucilaginous vegetable paste..as wheat-flower and water. 1847 W. C. L. Martin Ox 175/1 Gruel made of fine wheat-flour. |
| 1798 Nemnich Polygl.-Lex., Virginian *Wheat fly, a mischievous insect in the American state: It eats the grain, and is a moth in a perfect state. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 951 The wheat-fly, Cecidomyia tritici. |
| 1908 ‘O. Henry’ Strictly Business 252 After I had taken some $9,000,000 out of the soap business I made the rest in corn and *wheat futures. 1979 Tanous & Rubinstein Wheat Killing (1980) ii. 13 The rise in the wheat price will mean a fortune to them if they own the wheat futures. |
| 1453–4 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 634 Operanti..super..emendacionem de le *Whet⁓garner. 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 15/3 *Wheat Germ Meal... Cooked in 5 minutes. 1933 Discovery May 160/1 The richest source of vitamin E is wheat germ. 1980 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 20 Jan. 57/3 Wheatgerm Loaf. A good hearty farmhouse loaf. |
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 96 The *whete glene crowned above the greyne. |
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xliv. IV. 221 The Ichneumon of the *wheat-gnat. |
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 5590 An hundred mavis [? mowis] of *whete greyne. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iv. iii, It has now..sifted out the true wheat-grains of National Deputies. 1918 Chamb. Jrnl. Aug. 520/1 For years millers have laboured to provide us with a perfectly white loaf, throwing away some of the most valuable parts of the wheat-grain in so doing. |
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 73 *Wheat-grass..either the greater used for the making of frails: or the lesser. 1762 W. Hudson Flora Anglica 45 Common Wheat-grass, Dog's-grass, Quick-grass or Couch-grass. 1766 Museum Rust. VI. 442 Common Wheat-grass, or Couch-grass. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 173 Sea Wheat-grass. Rush Wheat. 1871 Harper's Mag. July 187/2 Among the more important of these plants the wheat-grass stands pre-eminent. 1968 F. W. Gould Grass Systematics 186 Several species of Agropyron are important forage grasses on western rangelands, outstanding among which are..bluebunch wheatgrass, and..western wheatgrass. |
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 17 He sows on his *wheat-ground..about February. |
| 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 348 That is a profit more than the rent of the ground, and half as much again above the profit of the *wheat-grower. 1868 Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 18 The pioneer upon the prairie is a wheat-grower. |
| 1840 J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 23 Pennsylvania, then one of the best *wheat-growing States. |
| 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxx. 14 And Ruben goon out in tyme of *wheet heruest into the feeld. 1733 Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. xiii. 154 If their Wheat Harvest in Sicily be about the 20{supt}{suph} of May. |
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 130 Ᵹenim gate tord & *hwæte healm ᵹebærn to duste. 1748 Lond. & Country Brewer iv. (ed. 2) 255 Wheat Straw under a Hair-Cloth is reckoned the best Fuel by most, Rye-Straw next, and Wheat-Haulm worse. |
| 1827 Clare Sheph. Cal. 50 And lonely chirp the *wheat-hid quails. |
| 1559 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 143 For covering y⊇ *whete house ut patet per billam. 1710 D. Hilman Tusser Rediv. June (1744) 72 Lay it in the best Place you have, for which the Wheat-Houses now in request..are I think the best. |
| 1819 D. B. Warden Acc. United States II. 53 The Hessian fly, or *wheat insect (Tipula tritici). |
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 324 It may be proper to fold till Christmas, and then go on the *wheat-lay. |
| 1534 Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.) II. 208 The Baillye..Weyed ageyn his bredde wiche was to leight in the 1{supd} *Whete loffe iiij ounces. |
| 1587 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 26 [A] *wheate loft. |
| 1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Jan. 14/3 Harrison, a Wallendbeen (N.S.W.) *wheat-lumper, carried 1170 bags of wheat the other day. |
| 1957 *Wheat-lumping [see ring v.1 11]. |
| 1452 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 275 Drege malte, pese, benes, *whetemalte. 1743 Lond. & Country Brewer ii. (ed. 2) 93 Wheat-Malt also differs much from Barley-Malt. |
| 1840 J. & M. Loudon tr. Köllar's Treat. Insects ii. 123 The *Wheat Midge... The perfect insect has a distant [sic] resemblance to the common midge, but is smaller. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 304 The wheat-midge (Cecidomyia tritici). 1931 K. M. Smith Textbk. Agric. Entomol. xi. 169 Wheat midge was especially destructive in 1926 in the eastern counties. |
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 185/1 Chondrocopium farreum,..a *wheate mill or (as some say) an otemeale mill. |
| 1860 Curtis Farm Insects Index, *Wheat-mite. An acarus infesting stored corn. |
| 1862 T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. (ed. 3) Index, *Wheat moths. |
| c 1700 Bagford Ballads (1876) i. 66 Both his *Wheat Mows & his Hay, By Flames of Fire are consum'd away. 1808 Cobbett in Friendsh. Mary R. Mitford (1882) I. 43 The hares will be heard squeaking like rats on the breaking up of a wheat-mow. |
| 1884 Depew in Harper's Mag. (1886) XII. 217 In the *Wheat Pit at Chicago in a single year was buried more of the future prosperity of this republic than the sum of all the traffic which flows through that great city in a decade. |
| 1733 Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. xi. 112 If the How-Plow goes so near to the Rows as it ought, it would be apt to tear out the *Wheat-Plants along with the Stubble. |
| 1868 Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 17 A disposition to increase the breadth of *wheat-planting. |
| 1860 Curtis Farm Insects Index, *Wheat plant-louse, Aphis granaria. |
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 1 July 6/3 Canada aims at being the great *wheat-producer of the world. |
| 1884 Spectator No. 2932. 1165/2 To increase *wheat-production in India. |
| 1874 *Wheat ranch [see sheep ranch s.v. sheep n. 7 c]. 1947 Mazama Dec. 1/1 An overnight trip to the 500-acre wheat and stock ranch..near Wamic. |
| 1947 Chicago Tribune 1 Nov. 11/4 A former life term prisoner..admitted the..slaying of a retired Canadian *wheat rancher. 1977 J. Gillis Killers of Starfish (1979) v. 32 Maybe he was a big wheat rancher. |
| 1813 T. Davis Agric. Wilts Gloss., *Wheat-reed, straw preserved unthrashed for thatching. |
| 1682 Warburton Guernsey (1822) 94 A man, that has either house or land which he wishes to dispose of,..sells it to another to hold to him and his heirs for ever, paying yearly so many quarters..of *wheat rent. 1694 Falle Jersey iii. 95 Together with several Parcels of Lands and Meadows, Wheat-Rents, Escheats. |
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 182 In that fashion, without thatching, they make *wheat-reeks in the Isle of Wight. 1823 Cobbett Rural Rides (1885) I. 255 A..farm-house,..with a wheat-rick standing in the yard. |
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 32 Take a seve or a *wheterydoun. 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 200 Our Wheat-ridder Sieves. |
| 1479–80 Priory of Finchale (Surtees) p. cccxlvii, ij *whetridils, iij haveridils, et ij cribris. 1729 P. Walkden Diary (1866) 45 Windowed my wheat the chaff out of it, but, for want of a wheat riddle, we could dress it no further. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 281 A wheat-riddle of wood. |
| 1733 Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. xi. 110, I find by measuring my *Wheat Ridges in the Spring, that none of them are quite a Foot High. 1860 R. S. Hawker in Life (1905) 323 No one ever remembers the aspect of the wheat-ridges so mournfully unpromising. |
| 1382 Wyclif Judges xv. 1 Whanne the dais of *whete ripynge stooden yn. |
| 1962 E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) lix. 447 The dining room I saw was serving *wheat rolls, turnips, cabbage and spinach which looked adequate and wholesome. 1978 H. McLeave Borderline Case (1979) iv. 49 Shigo brought hot coffee, wheat rolls baked on the spot, butter. |
| 1855 Poultry Chron. III. 343 *Wheat-screenings, cracked corn,..or buckwheat, may be added to their diet. |
| 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 309 The..*Wheat-seed Plough. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 225 He..had worked with other horses all the wheat-seed time. |
| 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 724 Certaine waxe candles, which euer and onely they vsed to light in *wheat-seeding. 1729 P. Walkden Diary (1866) 44 When he ended his wheat seeding. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 946/1 *Wheat Separator. The separation of mustard, cockle, and grass seed from the wheat is effected by passing the mixed grains over inclined plates perforated with holes. |
| c 1530 in Gutch Coll. Cur. II. 329 Item a greate Bason withe a *Wheyte Sheffe in the bottom. 1600 Nashe Summers Last Will Wks. (Grosart) VI. 127 God knowes who shal pay goodman Yeomans, for his wheat sheafe. 1782 Highmore Ramble Coast Sussex (1873) 15 Nature..shewed us her Wheatsheaf—and her Autumn Horn. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 403 A wheat-sheaf should never contain more than two or three handsful. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 375 The cones [of the kidney] which are often compressed in their centres to the well-known wheat-sheaf shape. |
| 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 390 It should be pounded till it will run through a *wheat-sieve. |
| 1557 Tusser 100 Points Husb. xxv, October for *wheate sowing, calleth as fast. 1825 Cobbett Rural Rides (1885) II. 178 Wheat-sowing is yet going on, on the Wold. |
| 1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric., Digest 126 To-day..nine men,—three boys,—three teams,—and four carriages, have made a very handsome *Wheat-Stack of eighteen harvest loads. |
| 1577 Googe tr. Heresbach's Husb. i. 28 The stalke or steale thereof [sc. of rye] is smaller then the *Wheate stalke. 1733 Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. xiii. 158 The lower parts of the Wheat-stalks must receive the greater share of Heat. 1880 Meredith Pheobus with Admetus iv, Stately stood the wheatstalk, with head bent high. |
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 109/2 Amylon,..*wheatestarch. 1854 Pereira's Polarized Light (ed. 2) 154 Tapioca-meal, East Indian arrow-root..wheat-starch. |
| 1911 D. Malloch Resawed Fables 65 He had a Friend in the Retail Lumber Business..and he sent him enough Money to get Home to the *Wheat State. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. x. 187 Popular names for the various Australian states are:..South Australia: the Wheat State. 1950 R. Meyer Festivals U.S.A. 225 Kansas is sometimes called the Wheat State, but it is more familiarly known as the Sunflower State. |
| 14.. Stockholm Med. MS. ii. 755 in Anglia XVIII. 325 His stalke is gret as *whete-stro. 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §27 The wheate strawe, that they pourpose to make thacke of. 1789 T. Wright Meth. Watering Meadows (1790) 43 The hay is almost as long, coarse, and dry, as wheat-straw. 1813 Vancouver Agric. Devon 90, 100 sheaves of wheat-straw reed. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 303 It is..said that Wheat-straw may be melted into a colourless glass with the blow-pipe. c 1903 O. Read in Library Southern Lit. (1909) X. 4374 The Squatter, with his wheat-straw beard, his hay hair and his autumn leaf complexion. 1941 L. B. Lyon Tomorrow is Revealing 44 A son with a bird's glint, and wheat-straw hair. |
| 1760 R. Brown Compl. Farmer ii. 48 They plough in the *wheat stubble in December. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 337 The wheat stubbles are ploughed as soon as the wheat sowing is over. |
| 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 330 The *wheat-threave consists of twenty-eight sheaves. |
| 1862 T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. (ed. 3) 83 The true grain-weevil or *wheat-weevil of Europe. |
| 1954 E. Pound Cantos liii. 281 With gold cup of *wheat-wine that he go afield to spring ploughing. 1982 C. Thomas Jade Tiger 52 Wheat wine, almost pure alcohol. |
| 1862 T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. (ed. 3) 453 They have been called *wheat-worms, gray worms, and brown weevils... The name of grain-worms has likewise sometimes been applied to them. |
Hence
ˈwheatless a., having no wheat.
| 1868 Lynch Rivulet cxxxvii. iii, I opened many a..book,..But all the leaves were wheatless straws. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 336 The laity look on while theologians thrash their wheatless straw. 1917 Times 30 May 7/4 What will be the attitude of those portions of Greece..if they remain wheatless. |
▪ II. wheat, v. [f. prec.] trans. To crop with wheat.
| 1847 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VIII. i. 61 The land must not be wheated oftener than the soil will admit. |
▪ III. wheat obs. form of
white.