Word
wainwright
Phoneticswain·wright
US/ˈweɪnˌɹaɪt/
UK/wˈeɪnɹaɪt/
Definition
n. one of the 214 hills in the English Lake District described by the writer Alfred Wainwright.
n. any of the 214 Lake District peaks (fells) documented in Alfred Wainwright's 'Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'.
Examples
“The wainwright fixed the broken wheel on the cart.”
“In the nineteenth century, every rural village relied on the local wainwright to keep farm transport moving.”
“The decline of horse-drawn transport during the industrial revolution eventually rendered the wainwright's specialized skills obsolete, as factories began mass-producing steel frames for motorized vehicles.”
Examples
simple
“The wainwright fixed the broken wheel on the cart.”
contextual
“In the nineteenth century, every rural village relied on the local wainwright to keep farm transport moving.”
complex
“The decline of horse-drawn transport during the industrial revolution eventually rendered the wainwright's specialized skills obsolete, as factories began mass-producing steel frames for motorized vehicles.”
Usage
Usually capitalized when referring to the specific hills.
Teaching tip
This sense is highly specific to British culture and outdoor recreation in Northern England.
Etymology
From Old English wægnwyrhta, equivalent to wain (“large wagon for farm use”) + wright (“worker; maker”). The Canadian town is named after William Wainwright, the second vice-president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway along which the town was built.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Synonyms
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/wainwright