A to Z Challenge: W

Waggish
Definition: witty or joking.
Sentence: Dinner, however, came, and the little waggish doctor could not, for the life of him, avoid his jokes.
            — William Carleton

Waif
Definition: a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned.
Sentence: Had they not been poor children, little waifs, they would not have been locked in the cabin to perish like rats. 
            — Eugene V. Debs

Wan
Definition: lacking vitality as from weariness or illness or unhappiness.
Sentence: Tom was leaning back, pale and exhausted, his breath was short, his face gray, wan and wasted. 
           —Mrs. Henry Wood

Wane
Definition: a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number).
Sentence: India’s biggest producer, reported an 89 percent decline in second-quarter group profit because of waning demand and higher raw material costs at its European operations. 
           — Business Week (Nov 10, 2011)

Welter
Definition: a confused multitude of things.
Sentence: Of the nonseafood starters, artichoke hearts were slightly lost in a welter of cherry peppers, cubed eggplant, pine nuts and bits of chèvre.
            — New York Times (Apr 7, 2012)