wet

From Middle English wet (“wet, moistened”), wett, wette, past participle of Middle English weten (“to wet”), from Old English wǣtan (“to wet, moisten, water”), from Proto-Germanic *wētijaną (“to wet, make wet”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water, wet”) (also the source of water).

Cognate with Scots weit, wete (“to wet”), Saterland Frisian wäitje (“to wet; drench”), Icelandic væta (“to wet”). Compare also Middle English weet (“wet”), from Old English wǣt (“wet, moist, rainy”), from Proto-Germanic *wētaz (“wet, moist”), related to Scots weit, weet, wat (“wet”), North Frisian wiat, weet, wäit (“wet”), Saterland Frisian wäit (“wet”), West Frisian wiet (“wet”), Swedish and Norwegian våt (“wet”), Danish våd (“wet”), Faroese vátur (“wet”), Icelandic votur (“wet”).

• enPR: wĕt, IPA^(key): /wɛt/

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ɛt
• Homophone: whet (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

wet (comparative wetter, superlative wettest)

1. Made up of liquid or moisture, usually (but not always) water.

   Synonym: wetting

   Water is wet.

2. Of an object, etc.: covered or impregnated with liquid, usually (but not always) water.

   Synonyms: damp, saturated, soaked; see also Thesaurus:wet

   Antonym: dry

   I went out in the rain and now my clothes are all wet.

3. Of a burrito, sandwich, or other food: covered in a sauce.
   • 2000, Robert Allen Palmatier, Food: a dictionary of literal and nonliteral terms, page 372:

     A chimichanga (MWCD: 1982) is a burrito that is deep-fried, rather than baked, and is served in the fashion of a wet burrito.

   • 2005, Restaurant business, Volume 104, Issues 1-10

     The new item is its first "wet," or sauce-topped, burrito.

   • 2011, J. Gabriel Gates, Charlene Keel, Dark Territory, page 13

     But I'm getting the wet burrito.” Ignacio looked down at some sort of a tomato sauce–covered tortilla tube.

4. Of calligraphy and fountain pens: depositing a large amount of ink from the nib or the feed.

   This pen’s a wet writer, so it’ll feather on this cheap paper.

5. Of a sound recording: having had audio effects applied.
6. Of weather or a time period: rainy.

   Synonyms: damp, raining, rainy

   Antonyms: dry, sunny

   It’s going to be wet tomorrow.

   • 1637, John Milton, Comus, London: Humphrey Robinson, p. 32,

     Summer drouth, or singed aire

     Never scorch thy tresses faire,

     Nor wet Octobers torrent flood

     Thy molten crystall fill with mudde,

7. (slang) Of a person: inexperienced in a profession or task; having the characteristics of a rookie.

   Synonyms: green, wet behind the ears

   That guy’s wet; after all, he just started yesterday.

8. (slang, vulgar) (of women) Sexually aroused and thus having the vulva moistened with vaginal secretions.

   Synonyms: horny, moist; see also Thesaurus:randy

   He got me all wet.

9. (Britain, slang) Ineffectual, feeble, showing no strength of character.

   Synonyms: feeble, hopeless, useless

   Don’t be so wet.

10. (slang, historical) Permitting alcoholic beverages, as during Prohibition.
    • 1995, Richard F. Hamm, Shaping the Eighteenth Amendment:

      The wet states would be "the greatest beneficiaries" because the amendment would root out the liquor traffic within their cities.

11. (slang, archaic) Refreshed with liquor; drunk.

    Synonyms: inebriated, soused; see also Thesaurus:drunk

    • c. 1694, Matthew Prior, “Celia to Damon”

      […] When my lost Lover the tall Ship ascends, / With Musick gay, and wet with Iovial Friends […]

12. (biology, chemistry) Of a scientist or laboratory: working with biological or chemical matter.

    Antonym: dry

13. (chemistry) Employing, or done by means of, water or some other liquid.

    the wet extraction of copper, in distinction from dry extraction in which dry heat or fusion is employed

14. (slang, euphemistic) Involving assassination or "wet work".

    a wet affair; a wet job; wet stuff

• moist

wet (countable and uncountable, plural wets)

1. Liquid or moisture.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     Now the sun, with more effectual beams, / Had cheered the face of earth, and dried the wet / From drooping plant.

2. Rainy weather.

   Don't go out in the wet.

3. (Australia) Rainy season. (often capitalized)
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XI, page 186-7,

     They'll be in the camp […] before the Wet's out, mark my words.

   • 2015, David Andrew, The Complete Guide to Finding the Mammals of Australia, Csiro Publishing, Appendix B, page 380

     Northern Australia is tropical and subject to a prolonged wet season (often called simply 'the Wet') that may last from December to April […] . The Wet features high humidity, heavy rain, flooding that can cut off towns and roads for days on end, and, in most years, violent cyclones that cause high seas, widespread damage and sometimes loss of life.

4. (Britain, politics, derogatory) A moderate Conservative; especially, one who opposed the hard-line policies of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

   Antonym: dry

5. (colloquial) An alcoholic drink.
   • 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York 2007, page 60:

     ‘A pity,’ said Jim, ‘I thought we was going to have a free wet.’

6. (US, colloquial) One who supports the consumption of alcohol and thus opposes Prohibition.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Noah S. Sweat, Jr.

     The drys were as unhappy with the second part of the speech as the wets were with the first half.

wet (third-person singular simple present wets, present participle wetting, simple past and past participle wet or wetted)

1. (transitive) To cover or impregnate with liquid.
2. (transitive) To accidentally urinate in or on.

   Johnny wets the bed several times a week.

3. (intransitive) To make or become wet.
4. (transitive, soldering) To form an intermetallic bond between a solder and a metal substrate.
5. (transitive, informal) To celebrate by drinking alcohol.
   • 1826, Thomas Bayly Howell, ‎Thomas Jones Howell, A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings

     [He] invited some officers and other gentlemen to dine with him at the Dolphin tavern in Tower street, June 17, 1706, in order to wet his commission […]

   to wet the baby's head

6. Misspelling of whet.

• Tew, ewt, tew

Borrowed from Bislama wet (“wet”).

wet

1. (Southwest Santo) wet

• Greenhill, S.J., Blust. R, & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283.

• IPA^(key): /ʋɛt/

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• Hyphenation: wet
• Rhymes: -ɛt

From Middle Dutch wet, wette, wit, weet, from Old Dutch witat, witut (“rule, law”). Compare Low German Wet, Old High German wizzid, wizzōd (“law, order, will, scriptural ordinance”), Middle High German wizzot (“law, testament, sacrament”), Old Frisian witut, witat (“host”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐍄𐍉𐌸 (witōþ, “law”).

wet f (plural wetten, diminutive wetje n)

1. law (rule)
2. law (body of rules declared and/or enforced by a government)
3. (physics) law

• Afrikaans: wet
• → Madurese: ꦮꦺꦠ꧀ (wet)
• → Sranan Tongo: wèt

• rechten

wet

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of wetten
2. imperative of wetten

• wett, wette, wete, weet, weete

From Old English wǣt, wāt, and weten (“to wet”).

• IPA^(key): /wɛt/, /wɛːt/

wet

1. wet, watery
2. (weather) wet, rainy
3. liquid, fluid
4. damp, moist, waterlogged
5. (terrain) marshy, boggy
6. (alchemy, medicine) Something that is considered alchemically wet
7. teary, weepy
8. bloody, bloodstained
9. sweaty, having sweat

• English: wet
• Scots: wat

• “wē̆t (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-26.

wet (plural wetes or weten)

1. Water or another liquid
2. wetness; wateriness
3. (alchemy, medicine) Alchemical wetness
4. Rain, raininess

• English: wet
• Scots: wat

• “wē̆t (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-26.

wet

1. genitive plural of weto