wether
A castrated goat.
Noun
- A castrated goat.
- A castrated ram.
- I am a tainted Weather of the flocke, / Meeteſt for death, the weakeſt kinde of fruite - c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...
Origin
From Middle English wether, wethir, wedyr, from Old English weþer (“a wether, ram”), from Proto-West Germanic *weþru, from Proto-Germanic *weþruz (“wether”), from Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”). Cognates Cognate with Scots weddir, woddir, wadder (“wether”), Dutch weder, weer (“wether”), German Widder (“wether, ram”), Norwegian Bokmål vær (“ram”), Norwegian Nynorsk vêr (“ram”), Swedish vädur (“wether, ram”), Icelandic veður (“wether, ram”), Latin vitulus (“calf”).
Forms
Derived
Noun alt of, archaic
- Archaic spelling of weather.
- There was a great fyer in the chamber, the wether was colde, and I saw now and then a Bishop come out; - 1527, George Joye, The storie of my state after the bishop had receyued the pryours letters:
Verb
- To castrate a male sheep or goat.