wet

adj

1. Made up of liquid or moisture, usually (but not always) water.

   “Water is wet.”

2. Of an object, etc.: covered or impregnated with liquid, usually (but not always) water.

   “I went out in the rain and now my clothes are all wet.”

   “The baby is wet and needs its nappy changed.”

   “Parents and small children can stay cool and soaking wet at interactive water playgrounds.”

3. Of a burrito, sandwich, or other food: covered in a sauce.

   “A chimichanga (MWCD: 1982) is a burrito that is deep-fried, rather than baked, and is served in the fashion of a wet burrito.”

   “The new item is its first "wet," or sauce-topped, burrito.”

   “But I'm getting the wet burrito.” Ignacio looked down at some sort of a tomato sauce–covered tortilla tube.”

4. Of calligraphy and fountain pens: depositing a large amount of ink from the nib or the feed.

   “This pen’s a wet writer, so it’ll feather on this cheap paper.”

5. Of a sound recording: having had audio effects applied.
6. Of weather or a time period: rainy.

   “It’s going to be wet tomorrow.”

   “1637, John Milton, Comus, London: Humphrey Robinson, p. 32, Summer drouth, or singed aire Never scorch thy tresses faire, Nor wet Octobers torrent flood Thy molten crystall fill with mudde,”

   ““Everybody is interested in extremes – the hottest, the wettest, the windiest – so creating a database of professionally verified records is useful in that fact alone,” says Randall Cerveny from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).”

   “February 2020 was officially the wettest February on record for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the second wettest (behind 1990) for Scotland.”

   “While the study doesn’t directly shed light on why, it suggested that maintaining a similar degree of mobility as the climate changed to the warmer and wetter pattern we have today could have imparted additional stress as the mammoth encountered unfamiliar environments or restricted its movement.”

7. Using afterburners or water injection for increased engine thrust.

   “This fighter jet's engine is rated for a maximum wet thrust of 450 kilonewtons, more than twice its max dry thrust, but the afterburner eats up a huge amount of fuel.”

8. (slang)Of a person: inexperienced in a profession or task; having the characteristics of a rookie.

   “That guy’s wet; after all, he just started yesterday.”

9. (slang, vulgar)Sexually aroused and thus having the vulva moistened with vaginal secretions.

   “He got me all wet.”

   “I'm gonna get you wet. I'm gonna get you very wet. I know how to do this.”

10. (British, slang)Ineffectual, feeble, showing no strength of character.

    “I think it’s time we stopped our cringing embarrassment about our history, about our traditions, and about our culture, and we stopped this general fight of self-recrimination and wetness.”

    “Don’t be so wet.”

11. (retronym)Permitting alcoholic beverages.

    “The wet states would be "the greatest beneficiaries" because the amendment would root out the liquor traffic within their cities.”

12. (archaic, slang)Refreshed with liquor; drunk.

    “c. 1694, Matthew Prior, “Celia to Damon” […] When my lost Lover the tall Ship ascends, / With Musick gay, and wet with Iovial Friends […]”

13. Of a scientist or laboratory: working with biological or chemical matter.
14. Employing, or done by means of, water or some other liquid.

    “the wet extraction of copper, in distinction from dry extraction in which dry heat or fusion is employed”

15. (euphemistic, slang)Involving assassination or "wet work".

    “a wet affair; a wet job; wet stuff”

16. (slang)Of a board or flop: enabling the creation of many or of strong hands; e.g. containing connectors or suited cards. (Compare dry).
17. (colloquial, dated, obsolete)Of a Quaker: liberal with respect to religious observance.
18. With a usual complement or consummation; potent.
19. Of code, having the quality of adhering to the principle of WET; containing much repetition.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Liquid or moisture.

   “Now the sun, with more effectual beams, / Had cheered the face of earth, and dried the wet / From drooping plant.”

2. (countable, uncountable)Rainy weather.

   “Don't go out in the wet.”

3. (Australia, countable, uncountable)Rainy season. (often capitalized)

   “They'll be in the camp […] before the Wet's out, mark my words.”

   “Once the wet kicks in up north, you can be stranded for months waiting for swollen rivers to subside to a crossable depth[.]”

   “He said he wanted to beat the clouds gathering, before the Wet had properly settled itself over the plains again.”

4. (British, UK, countable, derogatory, uncountable)A moderate Conservative; especially, one who opposed the hard-line policies of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
5. (colloquial, countable, uncountable)An alcoholic drink.

   “‘A pity,’ said Jim, ‘I thought we was going to have a free wet.’”

6. (US, colloquial, countable, uncountable)One who supports the consumption of alcohol and thus opposes Prohibition.

   “The drys were as unhappy with the second part of the speech as the wets were with the first half.”

7. (countable, in-plural, uncountable)A tyre for use in wet weather.

   “Wets, designed to channel water away from underneath the tyres, maximise grip and minimise the chance of aquaplaning.”

8. (colloquial, countable, derogatory, uncountable)A weak or sentimental person; a wimp or softie.

   “Above all, he [Nigel Molesworth] is his own man, resolutely committed to a view of life that divides his fellow pupils into 'sissies', 'wets', 'swots' and 'old lags'.”

   “Rimmer had never been terribly good at sports. In fact, he'd been one of the group of 'wets, weirdos and fatties' who stood by the touchline at ball games, worrying about their chapped legs, and fleeing whenever the ball came near them.”

9. (alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable)Alternative form of wat (“stew or curry eaten in Ethiopia and Eritrea”).

verb

1. (transitive)To cover or impregnate with liquid.

   “There is scanty room for a railway, and in many places the rails are wetted by the spray from the Illecillewaet, which is the Indian word for a raging torrent.”

   “'Mr Kelly's Car Wash' was a toy made by Remco where a toy car could be automatically wetted, scrubbed and dried.”

2. (intransitive, transitive)To make or become wet.

   “I try to show emotion, but my eyes won't seem to wet”

3. (transitive)To make (oneself, clothing, a bed, etc.) wet by accidental urination.

   “Johnny wets the bed several times a week.”

   “She was laughing so hard she wet her pants.”

4. (transitive)To form an intermetallic bond between a solder and a metal substrate.
5. (informal, transitive)To celebrate by drinking alcohol.

   “to wet the baby’s head”

   “[He] invited some officers and other gentlemen to dine with him at the Dolphin tavern in Tower street, June 17, 1706, in order to wet his commission […]”

6. (Multicultural-London-English, US, slang)To kill or seriously injure.

   “I'm coming to get ya, I'm coming to get ya / Spitting out lyrics, homie, I'll wet ya”

7. (alt-of, misspelling)Misspelling of whet.

phrase

1. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of)Acronym of write everything twice, a humorous backronym coined to serve as the antonym of DRY, punning on the opposition of wet and dry.