Welsh

a. [A-S. wǣlisc, wǣlisc, wilisc, welisc, weallisc, wealhisc, from wealh, a stranger, foreigner, not of Saxon origin, a Welshman, a Celt, Gael, O. H. Ger. walah, M. H. Ger. walch, N. H. Ger. wale; O. H. Ger. walahisc, M. H. Ger. welhisch, welch, wälsch, N. H. Ger. wälsch or welsch, Celtic, Welsh, Italian, French, foreign, strange, not from A-S. weallian, to wander, but formed from Lat. Gallus, a Gaul.] (Geog.) Belonging or relating to Wales, or its inhabitants. [Rarely written also Welch.]

Welsh flannel, the finest kind of flannel, made from the fleeces of the flocks of the Welsh mountains, and chiefly manufactured by hand. Simmonds.—Welsh glaive, or Welsh hook, a weapon of war used in former times by the Welsh, commonly regarded as a kind of pole-ax. Craig. Fairholt.—Welsh groin (Arch.), a groin formed by the intersection of two cylindrical vaults, one of which is lower than the other. Gröll.—Welsh mortgage (O. Eng. Law), a species of mortgage, being a conveyance of an estate, redeemable at any time, on payment of the principal, with an understanding that the profits in the mean time shall be received by the mortgagee without account, in satisfaction of interest. Burrill.—Welsh mutton, a choice and delicate kind of mutton obtained from a small breed of sheep in Wales. Simmonds.—Welsh onion (Bot.), a plant resembling the onion, indigenous in Siberia; Allium fistulosum;—said to have been introduced from Germany, and supposed to have derived its name from the German term Welsch, foreign. Eng. Cyc. Loudon.—Welsh parsley, hemp, or halters made from hemp. [Obs. and burlesque.] Beau. & Fl.—Welsh rabbit. [Properly Welsh rare-bit.] Cheese melted into a mass, and usually spread over slices of toasted bread.—Welsh wig, a worsted cap. Simmonds.