was
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: note: weak form
enpr: wəz
ipa: /wəz/
note: weak form
note: strong form
enpr: wŏz
note: strong form
enpr: wŭz
ipa: /wɒz/
note: strong form
ipa: /wʌz/
note: strong form
ipa: /wɑz/
note: strong form
note: strong form
ipa: [wəz]
ipa: /wɒz/
ipa: [wɔ(ː)z]
ipa: /wɔz/
note: strong form
note: strong form
ipa: /wæz/
note: strong form
ipa: /wæs/
rhymes: -ɒz
rhymes: -ʌz
Forms: form: wus
form: wuz
Etymology: From Middle English was, from Old English wæs, from Proto-Germanic *was, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂we-h₂wós-e from *h₂wes- (“to reside”), whence also vestal.
See also Scots was, West Frisian was (dated, wie is generally preferred today), Dutch was, Low German was, German war, Swedish var); also Kamkata-viri vos-, Sanskrit उवास (uvā́sa).
The paradigm of “to be” has been since the time of Proto-Germanic a synthesis of three originally distinct verb stems. The infinitive form be is from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to become”). The forms is and are are both derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”). Lastly, the past forms starting with w- such as was and were are from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes- (“to reside”).
Senses: examples: text: I was castigated and scorned.
glosses: first-person singular simple past indicative of be.
examples: text: It was a really humongous slice of cake.
text: I killed my poor father, Tuesday was a week, for doing the like of that.
ref: 1915, John Millington Synge, The Playboy of the Western World, section I:
text: He saw it clear enough, now that the lordling had pointed it out. “They couldn't have froze. Not if the Wall was weeping. It wasn't cold enough."
ref: 1996 August 1, George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire; 1), HarperCollins, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 16:
glosses: third-person singular simple past indicative of be.
examples: text: There was three of them there.
text: And in the vppermoſt baſket there was of all maner of †bake-meats foꝛ Pharaoh,and the birds did eat them out of the baſket vpon my head.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Gen 40:17:
glosses: Used in phrases with existential there when the semantic subject is (usually third-person) plural.
examples: text: You was pleased to cast a favourable eye upon me.
ref: 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXXIII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC:
text: "Was you outside the Bank of England, sir?"
ref: 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
qualifier: African-American Vernacular
glosses: second-person singular simple past indicative of be; were.
examples: text: “What happened here, Hadley?” the chief asked. “We was robbed, damn it, we was robbed.”
ref: 2001, Darrel Rachel, The Magnolias Still Bloom, page 104:
glosses: first-person plural simple past indicative of be; were.
examples: text: When the reflection in the glass that I held to my lips now baby / Revealed the tears that was on my face, yeah
ref: 1968, Etta James, Ellington Jordan, Billy Foster, “I'd Rather Go Blind”, performed by Etta James:
text: Take or be taken. Get yours or get got. It was the code of the streets and I'd lived by it. The way things was looking, I was prolly gone die by it too.
ref: 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 24:
qualifier: African-American Vernacular
glosses: third-person plural simple past indicative of be; were.
Derived terms: wasband
wasbian
Wasrael
Related terms: am
are
art
be
been
beest
being
is
wast
were
wert
woz
wuz