wad

1. A bundle of money, usually of the paper "folding stuff" variety.

2. A male's ejaculate, especially in the coarse usage "to shoot one's wad".

The origin of these usages is from the military, where the paper stuffing of a cartridge shell is known as the wad or wadding. In the second usage, it bears noting that the wadding is expelled when the cartridge is shot.

3. An exceedingly stupid person.

A file format for storing game data content, originally used by id Software's computer game Doom and later inherited by games such as Doom II, Hexen, Heretic and Strife. "WAD" is an acronym for "Where's All Data". A WAD file contains several lumps, each of which is a small file. There are two kinds of WAD files, IWADs and PWADs.

Technical format of a WAD file

A WAD file consists of a header, a directory and the actual contents. Observe that 4-byte numbers in the WAD file's header and directory are stored in a low-high format, or a reverse byte order to what PC's use natively.

Header
The header is 12 bytes big. Bytes 0-3 tell what kind of WAD it is, and read either "PWAD" or "IWAD". Bytes 4-7 store how many lumps there are in the WAD in total. Bytes 8-11 store the offset to the directory.

Directory
The directory is an index of all lumps in the WAD, similar to a file allocation table. The directory is a list of entry descriptors, one for each lump in the WAD file. Each entry descriptor is 16 bytes in size, the first 4 bytes being a pointer to the lump's position in the file, the next 4 being the size of the lump in bytes and the last 8 being a text string for the lump's name (WAD lumps can have no longer names than 8 characters). The directory is typically placed at the end of the file, after all lump data, for practical reasons.

Content
The data of the lumps. The lumps may contain things such as level data, graphics, sounds, and much more. Most files must be converted to Doom's internal formats when placed in a WAD. For instance, graphics must be converted to a special column-based format which is obscure but speeds up rendering, and MIDI files must be converted to the MUS music file format which Doom supports.

Wad (?), n. [See Woad.]

Woad.

© Webster 1913.

Wad, n. [Probably of Scand. origin; cf. Sw. vadd wadding, Dan vat, D. & G. watte. Cf. Wadmol.]

1.

A little mass, tuft, or bundle, as of hay or tow.

Holland.

2.

Specifically: A little mass of some soft or flexible material, such as hay, straw, tow, paper, or old rope yarn, used for retaining a charge of powder in a gun, or for keeping the powder and shot close; also, to diminish or avoid the effects of windage. Also, by extension, a dusk of felt, pasteboard, etc., serving a similar purpose.

3.

A soft mass, especially of some loose, fibrous substance, used for various purposes, as for stopping an aperture, padding a garment, etc.

Wed hook, a rod with a screw or hook at the end, used for removing the wad from a gun.

© Webster 1913.

Wad, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Waded; p. pr. & vb. n. Wadding.]

1.

To form into a mass, or wad, or into wadding; as, to wad tow or cotton.

2.

To insert or crowd a wad into; as, to wad a gun; also, to stuff or line with some soft substance, or wadding, like cotton; as, to wad a cloak.

© Webster 1913.

Wad, Wadd, n. Min. (a)

An earthy oxide of manganese, or mixture of different oxides and water, with some oxide of iron, and often silica, alumina, lime, or baryta; black ocher. There are several varieties.

Plumbago, or black lead.

© Webster 1913.