wetting

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
wet/wet/

▶adjective (wetter, wettest)

• 1 covered or saturated with liquid.

  ■ (of the weather) rainy.

  ■ involving the use of water or liquid.

• 2 (of paint, ink, etc.) not yet having dried or hardened.

• 3 Brit. informal lacking forcefulness or strength of character; feeble.

• 4 informal (of an area) allowing the free sale of alcoholic drink.

▶verb (wets, wetting; past and past part. wet or wetted) cover or touch with liquid.

■ (especially of a baby or young child) urinate in or on.

■ (wet oneself) urinate involuntarily.

■ dialect infuse (tea) by pouring on boiling water.

▶noun

• 1 liquid that makes something damp.

  ■ (the wet) rainy weather.

  ■ Brit. informal a drink.

• 2 Brit. informal a feeble person.

• 3 Brit. a Conservative politician (especially in the 1980s) with liberal tendencies.

• 4 US a person opposed to the prohibition of alcohol.

– phrases
all wet N. Amer. completely wrong.
wet the baby's head Brit. informal celebrate a baby's birth with a drink.
wet behind the ears informal lacking experience; immature.
wet one's whistle informal have a drink.

– derivatives
wetly adverb,
wetness noun,
wettable adjective,
wettish adjective.

– origin OE wǣt (adj. and n.), wǣtan (v.); rel. to water.