Welsh
proper noun
- natives or inhabitants of Wales
adjective
- of or relating to Wales
verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L333488 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈwɛlʃ/ / [ˈwɛlʃ] / /wɛlʃ/
adj
Etymology: Etymology tree Old English welise English welsh Inherited from Old English welise (“foreign”).
- Foreign.
name
Etymology: From Middle English Walsch, Welische, from Anglian Old English wǣlisċ (“Briton; Roman; Celt”), from Proto-West Germanic *walhisk, from Proto-Germanic *walhiskaz (“Celt; later Roman”), from *walhaz (“Celt, Roman”) (compare Old English wealh), from the name of the Gaulish tribe, the Volcae (recorded only in Latin contexts). This word was borrowed from Germanic into Slavic (compare Old Church Slavonic Влахъ (Vlaxŭ, “Vlachs, Romanians”), Byzantine Greek Βλάχος (Blákhos)). Doublet of Vellish. Compare Walloon, walnut, Vlach, Walach, Gaul, Cornwall.
- An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname for someone who was a Welshman or a Celt.
- An Irish surname, a variant of Walsh.
- A town in Louisiana, United States, named for early landowner Henry Welsh.
- An unincorporated community in Ohio, United States, named for an early settler.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English Walsch, Welische, from Anglian Old English wǣlisċ (“Briton; Roman; Celt”), from Proto-West Germanic *walhisk, from Proto-Germanic *walhiskaz (“Celt; later Roman”), from *walhaz (“Celt, Roman”) (compare Old English wealh), from the name of the Gaulish tribe, the Volcae (recorded only in Latin contexts). This word was borrowed from Germanic into Slavic (compare Old Church Slavonic Влахъ (Vlaxŭ, “Vlachs, Romanians”), Byzantine Greek Βλάχος (Blákhos)). Doublet of Vellish. Compare Walloon, walnut, Vlach, Walach, Gaul, Cornwall.
- The Welsh language.
“9 minutes to 2. We just stopped to have our horses' mouths washed, and there all people spoke welsh.”
- The people of Wales.
- A breed of pig, kept mainly for bacon.
verb
Etymology: Sometimes held to derive from disparaging stereotypes about the Welsh, though firm evidence of this derivation is lacking. Compare gyp (“swindle”), probably from Gypsy, and jew (“defraud”), from Jew.
- To cheat or swindle someone, often by not paying a debt, especially a gambling debt.
- To go back on one's word.
“"He can weasel out if^([sic]) it." Ibanez massaged her knuckles. "He can say Couch welshed on a deal, and didn't show, and that's why Karen got got. It isn't conclusive. I have another thing I can lay on him, but even the two combined won't do. We need a third smoking gun if we're really gonna smoke this son of a bitch."”