wield

Pronunciation: /wiːld/

The English word “wield” has 6 meanings listed here.

verb

To handle with skill and ease, especially a weapon or tool.
To exercise (authority or influence) effectively.
To command, rule over; to possess or own.
To control, to guide or manage.
To carry out, to bring about.

noun

Rule, command; power, control, wielding.

Etymology

From Middle English welden, from the merger of Old English wealdan (“to control, rule”) (strong class 7) and Old English wieldan (“to control, subdue”) (weak). Both verbs derive from Proto-West Germanic *waldan and *waldijan, respectively; and are ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waldaną (“to rule”). The reason for the merger was that in Middle English the -d in the stem made it hard to…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.