wade

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to walk with effort through water, mud, or another substance that impedes movement

   We had to wade across the shallow river to reach the path.

2. 2
   verb

   to work through a large, difficult, or tedious amount of material

   She waded through hundreds of pages of legal evidence.

From Middle English waden, from Old English wadan 'to go or advance', from Proto-Germanic *wadaną. Cognates include Dutch waden and German waten; the older general sense of going narrowed to movement through water or another resisting substance.

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