Waled

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Marked or decorated with raised stripes or ridges, especially on skin or fabric ; subjected to beating or whipping, typically leaving marks or welts
2. Having stripes or linear indentations on a surface ; having been struck repeatedly, often causing visible wounds
3. Characterized by striping patterns or raised lines ; having experienced physical punishment with a whip or similar instrument

Etymology: "Waled" is the past tense and past participle of "wale," a verb meaning to mark something with raised stripes or ridges. The verb grew out of a noun, and that noun's earliest sense was physical: Old English "walu" meant a ridge or bank, and also a weal, the raised mark a blow leaves on the skin. Middle English then used the same word for planking and for the welt along a seam, which explains why a wale is still a ridge in fabric, and a raised stripe across a surface. The noun's ultimate root, Proto-Germanic "waluz," meant "stick" or "root," and it traces back to an Indo-European base meaning "to turn, wind, or roll." A stick or a rolled ridge is a fitting starting point for a word that now describes lines pressed into cloth or wood.

Synonyms: marked, scarred, branded, etched, imprinted

Antonyms: smooth, unmarked, clear, unblemished, even