welter

welter [ˈwɛltər] v. i.

1.) To roll, as the body of an animal; to tumble about, especially in anything foul or defiling; to wallow.
2.) To rise and fall, as waves; to tumble over, as billows.

welter v. t.

1.) To wither; to wilt.

welter a.

1.) (Horse Racing) Of, pertaining to, or designating, the most heavily weighted race in a meeting; as, a welter race; the welter stakes.

welter n.

1.) That in which any person or thing welters, or wallows; filth; mire; slough.
2.) A rising or falling, as of waves; as, the welter of the billows; the welter of a tempest (GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English).

Etymology: From Middle English welteren, to toss about, as in high seas, from Middle Low German, or Middle Dutch, to roll.

"Into a gradual calm the breezes sink,
A blue rim borders all the lake's still brink;
There doth the twinkling aspen's foliage sleep,
And insects clothe, like dust, the glassy deep:
And now, on every side, the surface breaks
Into blue spots, and slowly lengthening streaks;
Here, plots of sparkling water tremble bright
With thousand thousand twinkling points of light;
There, waves that, hardly weltering, die away,
Tip their smooth ridges with a softer ray;
And now the whole wide lake in deep repose
Is hushed, and like a burnished mirror glows,
Save where, along the shady western marge,
Coasts, with industrious oar, the charcoal barge (An Evening Walk Addressed to a Young Lady, William Wordsworth, 1793).