WAD

, or Wadding, in Gunnery, a stopple of paper, hay, straw, old rope-yarn, or tow, rolled sirmly up like a ball, or a short cylinder, and forced into a gun upon the powder, to keep it close in the chamber; or put up close to the shot, to keep it from rolling out, as well as, according to some, to prevent the inflamed powder from dilating round the sides of the ball, by its windage, as it passes along the chace, which it was thought would much diminish the effort of the powder. But, from the accurate experiments lately made at Woolwich, it has not been found to have any such effect.