• “Next day he presented himself before the King and, kissing the ground, began repeating: || “Grow *thy weal and thy welfare* day by day: And thy luck prevail o’er the envier’s spite; | And ne’er cease thy days to be white as day, | And thy foeman’s day to be black as night!” || The Sultan bade him be seated on the Wazir’s seat, so he sat down and applied himself to the business of his office”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from ‘When it was the Twenty-first Night’, in “The Book of The Thousand Nights and a Night”, translated and annotated by Richard F. Burton; 1885).

• “Amid great fanfare and pomp and show, for instance, he [Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif] had inaugurated a couple of power projects in these very times. But all have turned out to be great duds, with a very negative impact on public opinion. Instead of his aspired public kudos in bagfuls, he has earned the people’s consternation in heaps for the sloppy work done in a hurry to impress the masses with his government’s capabilities to deliver and his own earnestness for *the public weal and welfare*. And same would go with his mega projects if those too are slipshod works, which in all likelihood those would be, given his penchant to give a speedy completion to the projects to make for a good impression about his government and leadership on the people’s minds. He indeed is suffering, and suffering very badly, for his passion to go after elephantine schemes and projects”. [emphasis added]. ~ (from “PM’s Naivety”, Byline; August 01, 2014, Frontier Post, Peshawar, Pakistan; ©2014 Asianet-Pakistan).

• weal (n.; archaic): 1. prosperity or wellbeing (now esp. in the phrases ‘the common weal’ {=‘the common wealth’ a.k.a. ‘the commonwealth’}, ‘the public weal and welfare’); 2. (obsolete): the state; 3. (obsolete): wealth. [Old English wela; related to Old Saxon welo, Old High German wolo]. [curly-bracketed insert added]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary).

• welfare (n.): 1. a state or condition of doing well; prosperous or satisfactory course or relation; exemption from evil; state with respect to well-being: as, ‘to promote the physical or the spiritual welfare of society’; ‘to inquire after a friend’s welfare’; ‘to be anxious about the welfare of a ship at sea’; [e.g.]: “My daughter’s welfare I do feare”. (Child’s Ballads, “The Merchant’s Daughter”; IV. 332). “He [James II.] seems to have determined to make some amends for neglecting the welfare of his own soul by taking care of the souls of others”. (First Baron Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1800-1859, “History of England”, vi.); 2†. a source of well-being; a blessing; a good; [e.g.]: “Lith Troylus, byraft of eche welfare, Ybounden in the blake bark of care”. (Geoffery Chaucer, “Troilus”, iv. 228). [from Middle English welfare (= Middle Low German wolvare); well² + fare¹]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• welfare (n.): 1. something which aids or promotes well-being; [e.g.]: “For the welfare of all”; (synonyms): benefit; (related words): goodness, good (that which is pleasing or valuable or useful; [e.g.]: “Weigh the good against the bad”; “Among the highest goods of all are happiness and self-realisation”); advantage, reward (benefit resulting from some event or action; [e.g.]: “It turned out to my advantage that’s for sure”; “Reaping the rewards of generosity”); sake, interest (a reason for wanting something done; [e.g.]: “It’s for your sake not mine”; “Died for the sake of his country”; “In the interest of safety”; “In the common interest or common good”); 2. a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous; (synonyms): eudaemonia, eudaimonia, upbeat, wellbeing, well-being; [e.g.]: “The town was finally on the upbeat after our recent troubles”; (related words): fool’s paradise (an illusory state of wellbeing); health, wellness (a healthy state of wellbeing free from disease; [e.g.]: “Physicians should be held responsible for the health of their patients”); successfulness, prosperity (the condition of prospering; having good fortune); 3. governmental provision of economic assistance to persons in need; [e.g.]: “She lives on welfare you know”; (synonyms): public assistance, social welfare; (related words): social insurance (government provision for unemployed, injured, or aged people; financed by contributions from employers and employees as well as by government revenue); relief (aid for the aged or indigent or handicapped; [e.g.]: “He has been on relief for many years”); pogey, pogy, dole (money received from the state); economic aid, financial aid, aid (money to support a worthy person or cause). ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0).

• whilst (conj.; chiefly Brit.): another word for while¹, while², while³, while⁴, while⁵; viz.: 1. (subordinating) at the same time that; [e.g.]: “please light the fire whilst I’m cooking”; 2. (subordinating) all the time that; [e.g.]: “I stay inside whilst it’s raining”; 3. (subordinating) in spite of the fact that; [e.g.]: “whilst I agree about his brilliance I still think he’s rude”; 4. (coordinating) whereas; and in contrast; [e.g.]: “flats are expensive, whilst houses are cheap”; 5. (subordinating; used with a gerund) during the activity of; [e.g.]: “whilst walking I often whistle”. [C13: from whiles + -t, as in “amidst”, “amongst”]. ~ (Collins English Dictionary).

• whilst (conj. & adv.): same as while¹; viz.: (a.) during or in the time that; as long as; (b.) at the same time that (often used adversatively; i.e., expressing antithesis or opposition); (c.) till; until; (adv.): at times; sometimes; now and then (cf. whiles, adverb; viz.: at times), or whiles, in all its senses; [e.g.]: “I could soon... reckon up such a rabble of shooters, that be named here and there in poets, as would hold us talking whilst to-morrow”. (Roger Ascham, “Toxophilus”, 1545; ed. 1864, p. 74); “To him one of the other twins was bound, | Whilst I had been like heedful of the other”. (Shakespeare, “The Comedy of Errors”, i. 1. 83); “Whilest the Grape lasteth they drinke wine”. (Capt. John Smith, 1580-1631, “True Travels”, I. 84); “We find ourselves unable to avoid joining in the merriment of our friends, whilst unaware of its cause”. (Herbert Spencer, “Social Statics”, 1851, p. 115); the whilst (obsolete): (a.) while; [e.g.]: “If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing”. (Shakespeare, “Hamlet”, iii. 2. 93); (b.) in the mean time; [e.g.]: “I’ll call Sir Toby the whilst”. (Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night”, iv. 2. 4); “And watch’d, the whilst, with visage pale | And throbbing heart, the struggling sail”. (Sir Walter Scott, 1771-1832, “The Lay of the Last Minstrel”, Canto VI. 21). [formerly also whilest, from whiles + -t, excreseent after ‘s’ as in “amidst”, “amongst”, “betwixt”, etc.]. ~ (Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia).

• whilst (conj.; chiefly Brit.): while; [e.g.]: “I am writing up this part of the diary whilst I am waiting for the coach, which is, of course, late; and the crucifix is still round my neck”. (page 4, Chapter One, “Dracula”, 1897, Bram Stoker); “Without a word, she turned and went swiftly up the stairs, whilst I stood like an idiot gaping after her”. (Agatha Christie; “Mysterious Affair at Styles”, 1916); “The chief difference between the ‘employed’ and ‘self-employed’ categories being that the former may enjoy unemployment benefit whilst the latter may not”. (page 15, “Social Security Law”, 1974, Prof. Harry Calvert). [etymology: Middle English whilest, alteration of whiles; first known use: forteenth century, in the meaning defined above]. ~ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

• whilst (conj.): a formal word which has the same meaning as ‘while’; it is used in both time clauses and concessive clauses; [e.g.]: “Her sister had fallen whilst walking in her sleep at night”; “Raspberries have a matt, spongy surface whilst blackberries have a taut, shiny skin”. English speakers do not use whilst in conversation, and it is not used in American English. ~ (Collins Co-Build English).

• whilst (conj.; chiefly Brit.): while. [from Middle English whilest, alteration of whiles, adverb, ‘at times’, ‘occasionally’; see whiles; viz.: archaic; Middle English while + -es, genitive singular suffix, from Old English -es]. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary).

• whilst (conj.; chiefly Brit.): while. [1325-75; Middle English whilest, from whiles + parasitic -t, as in “amongst”, “amidst”]. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary).

• strike whilst the iron is hot (idiom): to make the most of an opportunity or favourable conditions while one has the chance to do so (a less common variant of “strike while the iron is hot”, more commonly heard in the UK); [e.g.]: “This sounds like a pretty amazing deal they’re offering; if I were you, I’d strike whilst the iron is hot”; “I deliberated too long before accepting the job offer—I should have struck whilst the iron was hot—as they’ve now given it to someone else”. ~ (Farlex Dictionary of Idioms).

• withal (adv.): in addition; besides. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary).

• withal (adv.): with it all; as well; besides. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary).

• withal (adv.): together with this. ~ (Princeton’s WordNet 3.0).

• withal (adv.): with the rest; together with; likewise; at the same time. ~ (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary).

• withal (adv.): together with this; besides. ~ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

• withal (adv.): with this; with that. ~ (Webster’s 1913 Dictionary).

• withal (adv.): besides; therewith; nevertheless; with. ~ (The Phrontistery Online).

• woo (v.): to seek the affection, favour, or love of (a woman) with a view to marriage. ~ (Collins English Dictionary).

• woo (v.t): to seek the favor, affection, or love of, esp. with a view to marriage; (v.i): to court a woman. ~ (Webster’s College Dictionary).

• woo: (of a man) to seek as a wife; [e.g.]: ‘He wooed the daughter of the king’. ~ Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary).

• woo (v.i.): to court a woman. ~ (American Heritage Dictionary).

1. enchanting or enthralling use of words; a powerful effect achieved by means of words;