Wabe

The grass-plot round a sun-dial (called a wabe because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it and a long way beyond it on each side) (“Jabberwocky” in “Through the Looking Glass”).

Also “the side of a hill (from its being soaked by rain)” (“Jabberwocky” in “Mischmasch”). [J.F.]

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

Etymology

Invented term from Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky, in “Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There”, 1871. Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky, an earlier version of the poem in the publication “Mischmasch”. [J.F.]

Example locations

• Wonderland
  Through the Looking Glass

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Entry contributors:

Julien Foster