Sentence:  If one of Mr. Rodgers ' melodies seemed to deserve a better fate than interment in Boston or the obscurity of a Broadway failure , Mr. Hart <WSD>was</WSD> likely to deck it out with new lyrics to give it a second chance in another show . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)