wet
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
biology
business
card-games
chemistry
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
poker
Etymology: 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-West Germanic *wātijan, 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-West Germanic *wāt, 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”), Middle Dutch wet (“wet, damp, watery”), Swedish and Norwegian våt (“wet”), Danish våd (“wet”), Faroese vátur (“wet”), Icelandic votur (“wet”).
Inflected forms:
form: wetter
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: wettest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: Made up of liquid or moisture, usually (but not always) water.
pos: adj
examples: Water is wet.
gloss: Of an object, etc.: covered or impregnated with liquid, usually (but not always) water.
pos: adj
examples: I went out in the rain and now my clothes are all wet.
The baby is wet and needs its nappy changed.
Parents and small children can stay cool and soaking wet at interactive water playgrounds.
gloss: Of a burrito, sandwich, or other food: covered in a sauce.
pos: adj
examples: A chimichanga (MWCD: 1982) is a burrito that is deep-fried, rather than baked, and is served in the fashion of a wet burrito.
The new item is its first "wet," or sauce-topped, burrito.
But I'm getting the wet burrito.” Ignacio looked down at some sort of a tomato sauce–covered tortilla tube.
gloss: Of calligraphy and fountain pens: depositing a large amount of ink from the nib or the feed.
pos: adj
examples: This pen’s a wet writer, so it’ll feather on this cheap paper.
gloss: Of a sound recording: having had audio effects applied.
pos: adj
gloss: Of weather or a time period: rainy.
pos: adj
examples: 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,
“Everybody is interested in extremes – the hottest, the wettest, the windiest – so creating a database of professionally verified records is useful in that fact alone,” says Randall Cerveny from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
February 2020 was officially the wettest February on record for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the second wettest (behind 1990) for Scotland.
While the study doesn’t directly shed light on why, it suggested that maintaining a similar degree of mobility as the climate changed to the warmer and wetter pattern we have today could have imparted additional stress as the mammoth encountered unfamiliar environments or restricted its movement.
gloss: Using afterburners or water injection for increased engine thrust.
pos: adj
examples: This fighter jet's engine is rated for a maximum wet thrust of 450 kilonewtons, more than twice its max dry thrust, but the afterburner eats up a huge amount of fuel.
gloss: Of a person: inexperienced in a profession or task; having the characteristics of a rookie.
pos: adj
tags: slang
examples: That guy’s wet; after all, he just started yesterday.
gloss: Sexually aroused and thus having the vulva moistened with vaginal secretions.
pos: adj
tags: slang
vulgar
examples: He got me all wet.
I'm gonna get you wet. I'm gonna get you very wet. I know how to do this.
gloss: Ineffectual, feeble, showing no strength of character.
pos: adj
tags: UK
slang
examples: "Wet! What currency that bit of slang has—and what awful power. It took me a long time to find out what the word meant, but after long research I think that I know. A man is wet if he isn't a 'regular guy'; he is wet if he isn't 'smooth'; he is wet if he has intellectual interests and lets the mob discover them; and, strangely enough, he is wet by the same token if he is utterly stupid. He is wet if he doesn't show at least a tendency to dissipate, but he isn't wet if he dissipates to excess. A man will be branded as wet for any of these reasons, and once he is so branded, he might as well leave college … "
I think it’s time we stopped our cringing embarrassment about our history, about our traditions, and about our culture, and we stopped this general fight of self-recrimination and wetness.
Don’t be so wet.
gloss: Permitting alcoholic beverages.
pos: adj
tags: retronym
examples: The wet states would be "the greatest beneficiaries" because the amendment would root out the liquor traffic within their cities.
gloss: Refreshed with liquor; drunk.
pos: adj
tags: archaic
slang
examples: c. 1694, Matthew Prior, “Celia to Damon”
[…] When my lost Lover the tall Ship ascends, / With Musick gay, and wet with Iovial Friends […]
gloss: Of a scientist or laboratory: working with biological or chemical matter.
pos: adj
gloss: Employing, or done by means of, water or some other liquid.
pos: adj
examples: the wet extraction of copper, in distinction from dry extraction in which dry heat or fusion is employed
gloss: Involving assassination or "wet work".
pos: adj
tags: euphemistic
slang
examples: a wet affair; a wet job; wet stuff
gloss: Of a board or flop: enabling the creation of many or of strong hands; e.g. containing connectors or suited cards. (Compare dry).
pos: adj
tags: slang
gloss: Of a Quaker: liberal with respect to religious observance.
pos: adj
tags: colloquial
dated
obsolete
examples: 1811. John Adams, Letter to the Boston Patriot, §25. Reprinted in 1856. Charles Francis Adams (ed.), The Life of John Adams, Second President of The United States. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, p. 661.
The Catholics thought him almost a Catholic. The Church of England claimed him as one of them. The Presbyterians thought him half a Presbyterian, and the Friends believed him a wet Quaker. The dissenting clergymen in England and America were among the most distinguished asserters and propagators of his renown. Indeed, all sects considered him, and I believe justly, a friend to unlimited toleration in matters of religion.
gloss: With a usual complement or consummation; potent.
pos: adj
Synonyms: bewatered
damp
drenched
dripping
drunk
humid
irriguous
madid
moist
moisty
overwatered
plashy
saturated
soaked
sodden
soggy
soppy
spewy
spongy
squidgy
thoan
thone
undried
watered
waterlogged
watery
wet
wetter than an otter's pocket
wiery
Antonyms: dry
Related words: moist
liquid
Derived words: adequately wet
all wet
angry as a wet hen
bed-wet
draw a wet sponge across the slate
dripping wet
feet wet
get one's dick wet
get one's feet wet
get wet
hanging wet bag
heavy wet
like a wet weekend
mad as a wet hen
miserable as a wet hen
pass a wet sponge over the slate
pea wet
ridden hard and put away wet
ride hard and put away wet
ride someone hard and put them away wet
rode hard and put up wet
soaking wet
sopping wet
the cat would eat fish but would not wet her feet
throw a wet blanket on
water is wet
way out of a wet paper bag
wet-and-dry-bulb hygrometer
wet and messy
wet and messy fetishism
wet and warm
wet arm system
wet bag
wet bar
wet bargain
wet behind the ears
wet beriberi
wet-blanketry
wet blanket
wet-blanket
wet bob
wet boy
wet brain
wet break
wet bulb
wet-bulb
wet bulbing
wet bulb temperature
wet-bulb temperature
wet cell
wet check
wet chemical
wet chemistry
wet cough
wet cupping
wet dock
wet dog shakes
wet dream
wet dress rehearsal
wet edge time
wet end
wet fart
wet firecracker
wet fish
wet fly
wet food
wet gas
wet goods
wet haze
wet heater
wet job
wet lab
wet-lab
wetland
wet lease
wet-leasing
wetlook
wet lung syndrome
wet market
wet mass
wet meadow
wet meter
wet mop
wet mount
wet Nelly
wet nelly
wet noodle
wet-noodle
wet nurse
wet one's clay
wet one's pants
wet-on-wet
wet pack
wet pail
wet pailing
wet palette
wet plate
wet play
wet porch
wet rag
wet riser
wet room
wet rot
wet-rot
wet sanding
wet-sanding
wet sand
wet-sand
wet season
wet shaving
wet signature
wet stacking
wetsuit
wet sump
wet tech
wetter than an otter's pocket
wet the bed
wet through
wet t-shirt competition
wet t-shirt contest
wet-un
wetware
wet-weather
wet weed
wet well
wet willy
wet wipe
wetwork
wild as a wet hen
wringing wet
wet the shamrock
Translations: