Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

Dictionary online

wer

  • noun [ masculine ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
wer, es; m.
Wright's OE grammar
§42; §80; §278; §335;
a weir, a dam
Show examples
  • Salomon sǽde ðætte suíðe deóp pól wǽre gewered on ðæs wísan monnes móde, and suíðe lytel unnyttes út fleówe. Ac se se ðe ðone wer bricð, and ðæt wæter út forlǽt, se bið fruma ðæs geflites dicitur : 'Aqua profunda verba ex ore viri;' Prov. 18, 4.

    Qui ergo dimittit aquam, caput est jurgiorum,

      Past. 38; Swt. 279, 16.
often the
wer is connected with fishing, and the word seems sometimes to be used of the water that is kept in by the dam
Show examples
  • Captura (captura locus piscosus, ubi capiuntur pisces, Migne), detentio, captio hæft

    vel wer,

      Wrt. Voc. ii. 128, 31.
  • Ðis is ðæs hagan bóc on Winceastre and ðes healfan weres æt Brægentforda and ðæs æcersplottes ðe ðǽrtó líð (cf. dimidium cuiusdam piscarii uadum ad capturam piscium æt Bræge decurrentem, ad Uetus monasteriam pertinentem, cum unius iugeris sibi adjacentis portione,

      134, 31-34), Cod. Dip. Kmbl. vi. 136, 11.
  • Hé wundrude and ealle ða ðe mid him wǽron on ðam were (

    in captura

    ) ðara fixa,
      Lk. Skt. 5, 9.
  • Terram cum omnibus ad se pertinentibus rebus necessariis hoc est, in siluis, in campis, in captura etiam piscium quae terrae illi adjacet, ubi sunt scilicet duo quod nostratim dicitur waeres,

      Cod. Dip. Kmbl. i. 64, 10.
  • Æt ǽlcum were, ðe binnan ðám .xxx. hídan is, gebyreþ ǽfre se óðer fisc ðam landhláforde, iii. 450, 25.
  • Andlang Úse tó Kekan were; of Kekan were andlang Úse tó Caluwan were,

      170, 31.
  • Mid were and mid mylene,

      243, 10.
  • Be eá tó Brihtwoldes were; of ðam were tó ðære díc,

      424, 19.
  • On Eádmundes wer; of Eádmundes were, vi. 31,

      14, 34.
Etymology
[Ic gife þas landes and þas wateres and meres and fennes and weres, Chr. 656; Erl. 31, 5. Ic gife þa twa dæl of Witlesmere mid watres and mid wæres and feonnes, 963; Erl. 122, 15. He set in weres (dam, v. l.) of watres wildernes posuit desertum in stagnum aquae, Ps. 106, 35. M. H. Ger. wer : Ger. wehr a weir, dam. Cf. Icel. vörr; f. a fenced-in landingplace; ver; n. a fishing-place.]
Similar entries
v. cyt-, fisc-, ford- (Cod. Dip. Kmbl. iii. 437, 11), hæc-, mylen-wer.
Full form

Word-wheel

  • wer, n.