Wad | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Wad, n.

noun

(wŏd), n. [Sw. vadd, Dan. vat, D. & Ger. watte, allied to A-S. wæd, garment, clothing, weeds, O. H. Ger. wāt, garment, L. Ger. waad, gewaad.]

A little mass, tuft, or bundle, as of hay or tow.
Especially, a little mass of some soft or flexible material, such as hay, straw, tow, paper, or old rope-yarn, used for stopping the charge of powder in a gun and pressing it close to the shot, or for keeping the powder and shot close, or, also, to diminish or avoid the effects of windage; hence, a soft mass, especially of some loose, fibrous substance, used for various purposes, as for stopping an aperture, or the like.

Wad, n.

noun

n. [A-S. wād.] Woad. See WOAD. [Obs.]

Wăd, v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. & p. p. WADDED; p. pr. & vb. n. WADDING.]

To form into a mass or wad, or into wadding; as, to wad tow or cotton.
To insert or crowd a wad into; as, to wad a gun; also, to stuff or line with some soft substance, or wadding, like cotton, &c.; as, to wad a pelisse.

Wad or Wadd, n.

noun

n. (Min.) An earthy oxide of manganese, or mixture of different oxides and water, with some oxide of iron, and often silica, alumina, lime, or baryta, and including several varieties;—sometimes applied also to plumbago or black-lead.