wad — ODE · Shobdo

wad /wɒd

▸ noun

1 a mass or lump of a soft material, used for padding, stuffing, or wiping:

a wad of lint-free rag.

▪ a portion of tobacco or another narcotic when used for chewing:

I made a wad out of the young leaves and twigs and tried to masticate slowly.

▪ mainly historical a disc of felt or another material used to keep powder or shot in place in a gun barrel.

2 a bundle or roll of paper or banknotes:

she held up a wad of greenbacks.

▪ informal a large amount of something, especially money:

she was working on TV and had wads of money.

3 British English informal a bun, cake, sandwich, or other piece of food:

tea and wads in some church hall.

▸ verb

( wads, wadding, wadded)

[with object]

1 compress (a soft material) into a lump or mass:

wad the strips over and over so that they ball up

I removed the name tag and promptly wadded it up.

2 line or stuff with wadding:

the quilts are wadded with thick natural cotton.

▪ stop up (an aperture) with a lump of soft material.

– PHRASES

shoot one's wad

1 vulgar slang
(of a man) ejaculate.

2 informal
do all that one can.

– ORIGIN originally, to fire one's gun with only the wad for a projectile when one's ammunition is exhausted.

– ORIGIN mid 16th century (denoting wadding): perhaps related to Dutch watten, French ouate ‘padding, cotton wool’.