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wield

verb
/wiːld/

Etymology

From Middle English welden, from the merger of Old English wealdan (“to control, rule”) (strong class 7) and Old English wieldan (“to control, subdue”) (weak). Both verbs derive from Proto-West Germanic *waldan and *waldijan, respectively; and are ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waldaną (“to rule”). The reason for the merger was that in Middle English the -d in the stem made it hard to distinguish between strong and weak forms in the past tense.

  1. inherited from *waldaną✻ — “to rule”
  2. inherited from *waldan✻
  3. inherited from wieldan — “to control, subdue”
  4. inherited from wealdan — “to control, rule”
  5. inherited from welden

Definitions

  1. To handle with skill and ease, especially a weapon or tool.

  2. To exercise (authority or influence) effectively.

    • The question isn't whether AI will reshape human society—it's whether its engineers will wield that power thoughtfully.

  3. To command, rule over

    To command, rule over; to possess or own.

    • There was never kyng sauff myselff that welded evir such knyghtes.
  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. To control, to guide or manage.

      • With such his chearefull speaches he doth wield / Her mind so well, that to his will she bends[…].

    2. To carry out, to bring about.

      • All is weill done, God wate, weild he hys will.

    3. Rule, command

      Rule, command; power, control, wielding.

      • What boots it if I beat the heathen home, And fold the mountains in my wield, and fire […]
      • […] telling him of the treasures concealed in the cave, of the mysterious ring and tarnhelmet, possessing which he can hold the wield of the world.
      • All wealth in my wield is, I know by my wit […]

    4. Acronym of Western Institute for Endangered Language Documentation.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at wield. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01wield02ease03easily04comfortably05difficulty06difficult07manage

A definitional loop anchored at wield. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at wield

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA