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wave

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Contents

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English waven, from Old English wafian ‎(“to wave, fluctuate, waver in mind, wonder”), from Proto-Germanic *wabōną, *wabjaną ‎(“to wander, sway”), from Proto-Indo-European *webh- ‎(“to move to and from, wander”). Cognate with Middle High German waben ‎(“to wave”), Icelandic váfa ‎(“to fluctuate, waver, doubt”). See also waver.

VerbEdit

wave ‎(third-person singular simple present waves, present participle waving, simple past and past participle waved)

  1. (intransitive) To move back and forth repeatedly.
    The flag waved in the gentle breeze.‎
    • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:
      But the World Cup winning veteran's left boot was awry again, the attempt sliced horribly wide of the left upright, and the saltires were waving aloft again a moment later when a long pass in the England midfield was picked off to almost offer up a breakaway try.
  2. (intransitive) To wave one’s hand in greeting or departure.
    I waved goodbye from across the room.‎
  3. (intransitive) To have an undulating or wavy form.
  4. (transitive) To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.
  5. (transitive) To produce waves to the hair.
    • 1977, Agatha Christie, An Autobiography, Part II, chapter4:
      There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs; […].
  6. (intransitive, baseball) To swing and miss at a pitch.
    Jones waves at strike one.‎
  7. (transitive) To cause to move back and forth repeatedly.
    The starter waved the flag to begin the race.‎
  8. (transitive) To signal (someone or something) with a waving movement.
  9. (intransitive, obsolete) To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state.
    • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
      He waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good nor harm.
  10. To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Thomas Browne to this entry?)
  11. To call attention to, or give a direction or command to, by a waving motion, as of the hand; to signify by waving; to beckon; to signal; to indicate.
    • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
      Look, with what courteous action / It waves you to a more removed ground.
    • Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)
      She spoke, and bowing waved / Dismissal.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

The wave after a ferry (1)

From Middle English *wave, wawe, waghe ‎(“wave”), partially from waven ‎(“to fluctuate, wave”) (see above) and partially from Old English wǣg ‎(“a wave, billow, motion, water, flood, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz ‎(“motion, storm, wave”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵhe- ‎(“to drag, carry”). Cognate with North Frisian weage ‎(“wave, flood, sea”), German Woge ‎(“wave”), French vague ‎(“wave”) (from Germanic), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌲𐍃 ‎(wēgs, “a wave”). See also waw.

NounEdit

wave ‎(plural waves)

  1. A moving disturbance in the level of a body of water; an undulation.
    The wave traveled from the center of the lake before breaking on the shore.
  2. (physics) A moving disturbance in the energy level of a field.
    Gravity waves, while predicted by theory for decades, have been notoriously difficult to detect.
  3. A shape that alternatingly curves in opposite directions.
    Her hair had a nice wave to it.
    sine wave
  4. (figuratively) A sudden unusually large amount of something that is temporarily experienced.
    A wave of shoppers stampeded through the door when the store opened for its Christmas discount special.
    A wave of retirees began moving to the coastal area.
    A wave of emotion overcame her when she thought about her son who was killed in battle.
    • 2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham”, in BBC[1]:
      Foster had been left unsighted by Scott Dann's positioning at his post, but the goalkeeper was about to prove his worth to Birmingham by keeping them in the game with a series of stunning saves as West Ham produced waves after wave of attack in their bid to find a crucial second goal.
  5. A sideway movement of the hand(s).
    With a wave of the hand.
  6. A group activity in a crowd imitating a wave going through water, where people in successive parts of the crowd stand and stretch upward, then sit. Usually referred to as "the wave"
SynonymsEdit
  • (an undulation): und (obsolete, rare)
  • (group activity): Mexican wave (chiefly Commonwealth)
HyponymsEdit
Hyponyms of wave
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from wave (noun)
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

See waive.

VerbEdit

wave ‎(third-person singular simple present waves, present participle waving, simple past and past participle waved)

  1. Obsolete spelling of waive
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Last edited on 22 September 2016, at 12:09