wield
English
Etymology
From Middle English wēlden, which combines forms from two closely related verbs: Old English wealdan (“to control, rule”) (strong class 7) and Old English wieldan (“to control, subdue”) (weak). The reason for the merger was that in Middle English the -d in the stem made it hard to distinguish between strong and weak forms in the past tense. Both verbs ultimately derive from Proto-Germanic *waldaną (“to rule”).[1]
Pronunciation
- enPR: wēld, IPA(key): /wiːld/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -iːld
- Homophones: wealed, Weald, weald, wheeled (in accents with the wine-whine merger)
Verb
wield (third-person singular simple present wields, present participle wielding, simple past and past participle wielded)
- (obsolete) To command, rule over; to possess or own.
- (obsolete) To control, to guide or manage.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- With such his chearefull speaches he doth wield / Her mind so well, that to his will she bends […].
- (obsolete) To carry out, to bring about.
- a. 1513, Virgil, Gawin Douglas [i.e., Gavin Douglas], transl., “VIII, prologue”, in [George Dundas], editor, The Æneid of Virgil: Translated into Scottish Verse (Bannatyne Club, Publications; 64, no. 1), volume I, Edinburgh: T. Constable, printer, published 1839, →OCLC, page 448, line 1:
- All is weill done, God wate, weild he hys will.
- To handle with skill and ease, especially a weapon or tool.
- To exercise (authority or influence) effectively.
Derived terms
Translations
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References
- ^ “wield, verb.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2021.
Anagrams
Saterland Frisian
Adjective
wield (masculine wielden, feminine, plural or definite wielde)
- Alternative spelling of wíeld
Scots
Etymology
From Old English wieldan (“to control”), a derivative of wealdan (“to govern”), from Proto-Germanic *waldaną. Cognate with German walten, Swedish vålla.
Pronunciation
Verb
wield
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂welh₁- (rule)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/iːld
- Rhymes:English/iːld/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- Saterland Frisian lemmas
- Saterland Frisian adjectives
- Scots terms inherited from Old English
- Scots terms derived from Old English
- Scots terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Scots terms with IPA pronunciation
- Scots lemmas
- Scots verbs