wade
[weyd]
- to walk in water, when partially immersed: He wasn't swimming, he was wading.
- to play in water: The children were wading in the pool most of the afternoon.
- to walk through water, snow, sand, or any other substance that impedes free motion or offers resistance to movement: to wade through the mud.
- to make one's way slowly or laboriously (often followed by through): to wade through a dull book.
- Obsolete. to go or proceed.
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- to pass through or cross by wading; ford: to wade a stream.
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- an act or instance of wading: We went for a wade in the shallows.
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- wade in/into,
- to begin energetically.
- to attack strongly: to wade into a thoughtless child; to wade into a mob of rioters.
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Origin of wade
before 900; Middle English waden to go, wade, Old English wadan to go; cognate with German waten, Old Norse vatha; akin to Old English wæd ford, sea, Latin vadum shoal, ford, vādere to go, rush
Synonyms
See more synonyms for wade on Thesaurus.com4. labor, toil, plod, plow, work.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for waded
Contemporary Examples
An older white woman who had waded into the crowd, turned to the four younger women behind her.
But if Clinton waded into the natural gas debate, she entirely avoided the Keystone one.
Later that month, Rivers waded into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
If there are no police around, you might see women who have waded into the water, fully dressed in coats, pants and headscarves.
He was “overcome with fear,” at which point he waded through the darkness in order to retrieve his gun from under the bed.
Historical Examples
The fact is, I found all this, and worse; I waded through tons of talk to no result.
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
Robin waded to shore, and the friar, half swimming and half scrambling, followed.
Maid MarianThomas Love Peacock
It is to be waded in the riffles, so that he can cross from one shore to the other as the mood suits him.
The ForestStewart Edward White
She waded forward to where the shoal ended and the deeper part began.
The Woman-HatersJoseph C. Lincoln
He waded to the shore and strode rapidly back toward the boathouse.
The Woman-HatersJoseph C. Lincoln
wade
- to walk with the feet immersed in (water, a stream, etc)the girls waded the river at the ford
- (intr often foll by through) to proceed with difficultyto wade through a book
- (intr; foll by in or into) to attack energetically
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- the act or an instance of wading
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Word Origin
Old English wadan; related to Old Frisian wada, Old High German watan, Old Norse vatha, Latin vadum ford
Wade
- (Sarah) Virginia. born 1945, English tennis player; won three Grand Slam singles titles: US Open (1968), Australian Open (1972), and Wimbledon (1977)
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for waded
wade
v.
Old English wadan "to go forward, proceed," in poetic use only, except as oferwaden "wade across," from Proto-Germanic *wadan (cf. Old Norse vaða, Danish vade, Old Frisian wada, Dutch waden, Old High German watan, German waten "to wade"), from PIE root *wadh- "to go," found only in Germanic and Latin (cf. Latin vadere "to go," vadum "shoal, ford," vadare "to wade"). Italian guado, French gué "ford" are Germanic loan-words.
Specifically of walking into water from c.1200. Originally a strong verb (past tense wod, past participle wad); weak since 16c. Figurative sense of "to go into" (action, battle, etc.) is recorded from late 14c. Related: Waded; wading.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper