English Explanatory Dictionary

wave

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely.
  2. To move one's hand back and forth (generally above the shoulders) in greeting or departure.
  3. 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.
  4. To have an undulating or wavy form.
  5. To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.
  6. To style (the hair) so as to produce a wavy texture.
  7. To swing and miss at a pitch.
  8. To cause to move back and forth repeatedly.
  9. To signal (someone or something) with a waving movement.
  10. To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state.
  11. To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft.
noun
  1. A moving disturbance in the level of a body of liquid; an undulation.
  2. The ocean.
  3. A moving disturbance in the energy level of a field.
  4. A shape that alternatingly curves in opposite directions.
  5. Any of a number of species of moths in the geometrid subfamily Sterrhinae, which have wavy markings on the wings.
  6. A loose back-and-forth movement, as of the hands.
  7. A sudden, but temporary, uptick in something.
  8. Any of a series of orders to be fulfilled in one short interval of time, planned as part of wave picking.
  9. A movement or trend in popular culture.
  10. One of the successive swarms of enemies sent to attack the player in certain games.
  11. 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.
verb
  1. To generate a wave.
verb
  1. Obsolete spelling of waive.
noun
  1. A members of the WAVES; a member of the US Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve).

Pronunciation

wāv /weɪv/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-wave.wav en-us-wave.ogg

Word forms

wave waves waving waved

Etymology

From Middle English waven, from Old English wafian (“to wave, fluctuate, waver in mind, wonder”), from Proto-West Germanic *wabōn, 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”), German wabern (“to waft”), Icelandic váfa (“to fluctuate, waver, doubt”). See also waver.

Synonyms

und rush Mexican wave

Derived words

wave aside wave away wave down wave goodbye wave in waver wave the bloody shirt wave the white flag wave through æther wave aether wave afterwave airwave Alfven wave Alfvén wave alpha wave audience wave autowave awave Bangemann wave beta wave bewave blastwave Bloch wave blow-wave body wave bow wave brain wave brainwave capillary wave catch a wave charge-density wave coldwave cold wave compression wave continuous wave cosmic gravitational-wave background cosmic gravitational wave background counterwave crimewave crime wave crimson wave crowd wave darkwave dark wave de Broglie wave dipole wave eigenwave electron wave function electrowave ethereal wave Eugene wave fifth-wave feminism finger wave first-wave feminism fixed wave four-lined wave fourth-wave feminism freak wave French new wave

Translations

Albanian: rendem Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܪܲܦܪܸܦ Bashkir: елберләү Bashkir: елпелдәү Bashkir: ялпылдау Bashkir: өлтәнләү Belarusian: развява́цца Belarusian: ві́цца Bulgarian: ве́я се Danish: vifte Danish: vaje Dutch: zwaaien Dutch: zwenken Dutch: wapperen Esperanto: svingi Finnish: aaltoilla Finnish: hulmuta Finnish: liehua French: flotter West-Frisian: wuiven Galician: ondular German: wedeln German: schwenken German: flattern German: wogen Greek: κυματίζω Hungarian: leng Ingrian: viuhkaa Irish: croith Italian: ondeggiare Japanese: 揺れる Korean: 흔들리다 Northern Kurdish: pêl Latin: quassō Latvian: viļņot Māori: tāwhiu Māori: tāwhiuwhiu Māori: pīwari Māori: manana Māori: pioi Māori: pīoi Māori: rurerure Norwegian Bokmål: vaie Norwegian Nynorsk: vaie Polish: falować Polish: łopotać Polish: powiewać Portuguese: ondular Romanian: undui Romanian: ondula Romanian: învălura Russian: развева́ться Russian: ви́ться Scottish Gaelic: smèid Scottish Gaelic: crath Serbo-Croatian: вихорити Serbo-Croatian: лепршати Serbo-Croatian: vihoriti Serbo-Croatian: lepršati Spanish: ondular Spanish: olear Spanish: ondear Swedish: vaja Tagalog: kumaway Tagalog: ikaway Tagalog: kumampay Tagalog: ikampay Tagalog: magwagayway Tagalog: iwagayway Ukrainian: майорі́ти Ukrainian: розвіва́тися Ukrainian: ви́тися Yiddish: פאָכען
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