wad
1 Americannoun
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a small mass, lump, or ball of anything: a wad of tobacco.
a wad of paper;
a wad of tobacco.
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a small mass of cotton, wool, or other fibrous or soft material, used for stuffing, padding, packing, etc.
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a roll of something, especially of bank notes.
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Informal. a comparatively large stock or quantity of something, especially money.
He's got a healthy wad salted away.
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a plug of cloth, tow, paper, or the like, used to hold the powder or shot, or both, in place in a gun or cartridge.
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British Dialect. a bundle, especially a small one, of hay, straw, etc.
verb (used with object)
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to form (material) into a wad.
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to roll tightly (often followed byup ).
He wadded up his cap and stuck it into his pocket.
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to hold in place by a wad.
They rammed and wadded the shot into their muskets.
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to put a wad into; stuff with a wad.
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to fill out with or as if with wadding; stuff; pad.
to wad a quilt;
to wad a speech with useless information.
verb (used without object)
idioms
noun
noun
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a small mass or ball of fibrous or soft material, such as cotton wool, used esp for packing or stuffing
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a plug of paper, cloth, leather, etc, pressed against a charge to hold it in place in a muzzle-loading cannon
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a disc of paper, felt, pasteboard, etc, used to hold in place the powder and shot in a shotgun cartridge
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a roll or bundle of something, esp of banknotes
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slang a large quantity, esp of money
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dialect a bundle of hay or straw
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slang military a bun
char and a wad
verb
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to form (something) into a wad
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(tr) to roll into a wad or bundle
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(tr)
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to hold (a charge) in place with a wad
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to insert a wad into (a gun)
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(tr) to pack or stuff with wadding; pad
noun
Other Word Forms
- unwadded adjective
- wadder noun
Etymology
Origin of wad1
First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English wadde “small bundle of straw used as a pad beneath a horse’s girth to prevent chafing,” from Medieval Latin wadda; further origin uncertain
Origin of wad2
First recorded in 1605–15; origin uncertain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As tanker operators scrambled for safety, momentarily snarling supplies of oil, natural gas and more, traders have waded into the fog of war across live social media feeds and TV coverage.
Altman waded into the standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon over the use of AI on the battlefield, telling his staff that the company was working on a deal that might help solve the impasse.
"I think it was an animal that could have waded easily into the water," Sereno said.
From Barron's
Feeling as good as if I had just waded the Mississippi River, I breathed a sigh of relief and lit out for the barn to get some straw.
From Literature
Not far from the camp, in the town of Mograne which was swamped by the neighbouring Sebou River, villagers still waded through deep mud.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
