A little mass, tuft, or bundle, as of hay or tow.
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.
A soft mass, especially of some loose, fibrous substance, used for various purposes, as for stopping an aperture, padding a garment, etc.
To form into a mass, or wad, or into wadding; as, to wad tow or cotton.
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.
crowd or pack to capacity; "the theater was jampacked"
A disc of paper, felt, cork, plastic or other material used primarily in shotshells to separate powder from shot. Can be over-powder, filler, cushion or a combination of these. Speer shot capsules for handguns feature a wad to seal the bore.
Shotguns. A clump of material, commonly of cardboard or plastic, which acts as a buffer between the shot and the powder. It seals in the gases which propel the shot out of the barrel. Without a wad, the gases would go whistling past the shot instead of propelling it out the barrel. Muzzle loading. A piece of cloth used to seal the bullet into the barrel. Its function is the same as a shotgun wad.
A disc of paper, felt, cork, plastic or other material used for various purposes, primarily in shotshells, but occasionally in rifle or pistol cartridges.
A disk, or series of disks of soft material used to seal the projectile and powder into the cartridge and or, gun.