wafer
noun
- thin type of biscuit
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈweɪ̯fəː/ / [ˈweɪ̯fəː] / /wæɪ̯fəː/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English wafre, from Anglo-Norman wafre, waufre (Old French gaufre), from a Germanic source. Compare Middle Low German wāfel, Middle Dutch wafel (“honeycomb”), West Flemish wafer. See also waffle.
- A light, thin, flat biscuit/cookie.
“I was at the Mathematical School, where the Maſter taught his Pupils after a Method ſcarce imaginable to us in Europe. The Propoſition and Demonſtration were fairly written on a thin Wafer, with Ink compoſed of a Cephalick Tincture. This the Student was to ſwallow upon a faſting Stomach, and for three days following eat nothing but Bread and Water. As the Wafer digeſted, the Tincture mounted to his Brain, bearing the Propoſition along with it.”
- A thin disk of consecrated unleavened bread used in communion.
- A soft disk originally made of flour, and later of gelatin or a similar substance, used to seal letters, attach papers etc.
“The house supplied him with a wafer for his present purpose, with which, having sealed his letter, he returned hastily towards the brook side, in order to search for the things which he had there lost.”
- A thin disk of silicon or other semiconductor on which an electronic circuit is produced.
verb
Etymology: From Middle English wafre, from Anglo-Norman wafre, waufre (Old French gaufre), from a Germanic source. Compare Middle Low German wāfel, Middle Dutch wafel (“honeycomb”), West Flemish wafer. See also waffle.
- To seal or fasten with a wafer.
“[M]y Father, who knew he was well, wafered the paragraph upon a sheet of paper, and sent to his Lodgings.”
“[T]he beginning of de Barral's end became manifest to the public in the shape of a half-sheet of note-paper wafered by the four corners on the closed door […].”