waftage

English edit

Etymology edit

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /ˈwɒftɪd͡ʒ/

Noun edit

waftage (countable and uncountable, plural waftages)

Conveyance on a buoyant medium, such as air or water.
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], column 2:
  […] I ſtalke about her doore / Like a ſtrange ſoule upon the Stigian bankes / Staying for waftage.
- 1627, Michaell Drayton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The Battaile of Agin Court”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for VVilliam Lee, […], published 1631, →OCLC, page 19:
  The Ships appointed vvherein they ſhould goe, / And Boats prepar'd for vvaftage to and fro.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “waftage”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)