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.
Meanings
(intransitive) To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely.
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. 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:
The flag waved in the gentle breeze.
(intransitive) To move one's hand back and forth (generally above the shoulders) in greeting or departure.
I raised my arms in a final salute. I smiled. I waved goodbye. I turned into the helicopter, the door was closed, the red carpet was rolled up. 1978, Richard Nixon, RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 1090:
(metonymically, transitive) 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.
Look, with what courteous action / It waves you to a more removed ground. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
She spoke, and bowing waved / Dismissal. 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part 2”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
I waved goodbye from across the room.
(intransitive) To have an undulating or wavy form.
(transitive) To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.
horns whelked and waved like the enridged sea c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi]:
(transitive) To style (the hair) so as to produce a wavy texture.
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;[…]. 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:
(intransitive) To swing and miss at a pitch.
Jones waves at strike one.
(transitive) To cause to move back and forth repeatedly.
The starter waved the flag to begin the race.
His father has waved bills in front of face and said to him — see what you've cost me. 1977 August 13, Pala Bennett, Mary Jo Risher, “"I'm A Mother, And I'm A Good One."”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 6, page 9:
(metonymically, transitive) To signal (someone or something) with a waving movement.
(intransitive, obsolete) To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state.
He waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good nor harm. c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
(ergative, intransitive) To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft.
The moonlight fell into the room, and the shadows waved over him 1866, John Saunders, Bound to the Wheel, page 89:
But in the last, this dotted line, by the twisting as well as the bending of the horn, is changed from the waving into the serpentine line 1803, William Hogarth, Anecdotes of Mr. Hogarth: And Explanatory Descriptions of the Plates of Hogarth Restored, page 137:
The two stood in the window peering down where parents moved across grass, pointing tongues of colour waving over them. 2015, Arthur Calder-Marshall, About Levy:
A chill waved over my consciousness as my worst nightmare erupted into reality. 1997, Elizabeth Barrett, Victoria Bovard, And His Love Shown Down, page 88:
the flowers will not bloom less brightly, nor the grass be less green and fresh because it is waving over the head of one who loved to look upon their tender beauty while living. 1850, Pierce Egan, Robin Hood and Little John: or, The merry men of Sherwood forest, page 272:
The cypresslike ferns were not waving over these, as they waved over the corals in the wood, but the little spleenwort, called Wall-rue, was resolved that their tomb should not be without verdure. 1851, Margaret Plues, Rambles in Search of Ferns, page 31:
Walking through the fields, where the maize was now waving over his head, pale gold with a froth of white, the sharp dead leaves scything crisply against the wind, he could see nothing but that black foetid hut 1951, Doris Lessing, “The Second Hut”, in African Stories, published 2014, page 82:
aii ܡܲܢܝܸܦ (to wave one’s hand) · sh máhnuti (to wave one’s hand) · de winken (to wave one’s hand) · el κυματίζω (to move back and forth repeatedly) · sq rendem (to move back and forth repeatedly) · uk майорі́ти (to move back and forth repeatedly) · es holear (to wave one’s hand) · es tremolar (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · cs zamávat (to wave one’s hand) · fy golven (to have an undulating or wavy form) · ba болғау (to wave one’s hand) · aii ܪܲܦܪܸܦ (to move back and forth repeatedly) · aii ܪܲܚܸܦ (to wave one’s hand) · be развява́цца (to move back and forth repeatedly) · pl pomachać (to wave one’s hand) · es ondular (to produce waves to the hair) · de wellen (to produce waves to the hair) · ru помаха́ть (to wave one’s hand) · gd smèid (to wave one’s hand) · la quassō (to move back and forth repeatedly) · mi pīwari (to move back and forth repeatedly) · fi heiluttaa (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · ro undui (to move back and forth repeatedly) · fi hulmuta (to move back and forth repeatedly) · mi tāruperupe (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · it salutare (to wave one’s hand) · be махну́ць (to wave one’s hand) · rue махнути (to wave one’s hand) · tl kumampay (to move back and forth repeatedly) · mi tāwhiriwhiri (to signal with a waving movement) · nl wuiven (to wave one’s hand) · eo svingi (to move back and forth repeatedly) · gl acenar (to wave one’s hand) · rue махати (to wave one’s hand) · de ondulieren (to produce waves to the hair) · pt ondular (to have an undulating or wavy form) · uk маха́ти (to wave one’s hand) · ifk payapay (to signal with a waving movement) · bg ма́хна (to wave one’s hand) · tl magkulot (to produce waves to the hair) · pl bachnąć (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · bg ве́я се (to move back and forth repeatedly) · mi tāwhiri (to signal with a waving movement) · uk помаха́ти (to wave one’s hand) · tl iwagayway (to move back and forth repeatedly) · tl kumaway (to move back and forth repeatedly) · gd smèid (to move back and forth repeatedly) · it agitare (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · izh löyhyttää (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · sh vihoriti (to move back and forth repeatedly) · sh вихорити (to move back and forth repeatedly) · de wedeln (to move back and forth repeatedly) · ko 흔들리다 (to move back and forth repeatedly) · nn vaie (to move back and forth repeatedly) · de zuwinken (to signal with a waving movement) · ja 揺する (to wave one’s hand) · izh ravata (to wave one’s hand) · cu махати (to wave one’s hand) · ja 揺れる (to move back and forth repeatedly) · fr brandir (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · fy wenken (to wave one’s hand) · be маха́ць (to wave one’s hand) · yi מאַכן (to wave one’s hand) · pt ondear (to produce waves to the hair) · pl machać (to wave one’s hand) · nl zwaaien (to move back and forth repeatedly) · fr flotter (to move back and forth repeatedly) · nl zwaaien (to wave one’s hand) · ga croith (to move back and forth repeatedly) · sh ма́хати (to wave one’s hand) · da vaje (to move back and forth repeatedly) · fi aaltoilla (to have an undulating or wavy form) · es olear (to move back and forth repeatedly) · yi פאָכען (to move back and forth repeatedly) · uk махну́ти (to wave one’s hand) · ro învălura (to move back and forth repeatedly) · ba ялпылдау (to move back and forth repeatedly) · da vinke (to wave one’s hand) · ja 振り動かす (to wave one’s hand) · te ఊపు (to wave one’s hand) · pl łopotać (to move back and forth repeatedly) · mi tāwhiuwhiu (to move back and forth repeatedly) · ba елберләү (to move back and forth repeatedly) · fr onduler (to have an undulating or wavy form) · de wedeln (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · be ві́цца (to move back and forth repeatedly) · sh лепршати (to move back and forth repeatedly) · nl wapperen (to move back and forth repeatedly) · nn vaie (to move back and forth repeatedly) · tl kulutin (to produce waves to the hair) · no vinke (to wave one’s hand) · mi pioi (to move back and forth repeatedly) · de schwenken (to move back and forth repeatedly) · es ondular (to move back and forth repeatedly) · th โบก (to wave one’s hand) · uk ви́тися (to move back and forth repeatedly) · hu leng (to move back and forth repeatedly) · gl ondular (to move back and forth repeatedly) · tl ikampay (to move back and forth repeatedly) · cmn 招手 (to wave one’s hand) · yo juwọ́ (to wave one’s hand) · pt ondular (to move back and forth repeatedly) · sv vinka (to wave one’s hand) · ca saludar (to wave one’s hand) · fi vilkuttaa (to wave one’s hand) · pl machnąć (to wave one’s hand) · pt ondear (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · es abanicar (baseball: to swing and miss at a pitch) · bn হাত নাড়ানো (to wave one’s hand) · ja 振る (to wave one’s hand) · tl kumaway (to signal with a waving movement) · ga croith (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · pt acenar (to wave one’s hand) · ru развева́ться (to move back and forth repeatedly) · cmn 揮手 /挥手 (to wave one’s hand) · tl ikaway (to move back and forth repeatedly) · ko 흔들다 (to wave one’s hand) · vi vẫy (to wave one’s hand) · aii ܓܲܠܸܠ (to produce waves to the hair) · fr saluer (to wave one’s hand) · pt agitar (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · izh viuhkaa (to move back and forth repeatedly) · fr agiter (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · el γνέφω (to wave one’s hand) · fy wuiven (to move back and forth repeatedly) · fi liehua (to move back and forth repeatedly) · ru махну́ть (to wave one’s hand) · sv vaja (to move back and forth repeatedly) · cu махнѫти (to wave one’s hand) · sh ма́хнути (to wave one’s hand) · lt mojuoti (to wave one’s hand) · mi ori (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · mi tōroherohe (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · pt acenar (to signal with a waving movement) · fi vilkuttaa (baseball: to swing and miss at a pitch) · cs mávat (to wave one’s hand) · es saludar con la mano abierta (to wave one’s hand) · ar رَفْرَفَ (to wave one’s hand) · pl zamachać (to signal with a waving movement) · ar لَوَّحَ (to wave one’s hand) · gl capear (to wave one’s hand) · nl zwenken (to move back and forth repeatedly) · aii ܛܲܪܛܸܥ (to produce waves to the hair) · mi rurerure (to move back and forth repeatedly) · kmr pêl (to move back and forth repeatedly) · fi kähertää (to produce waves to the hair) · ltg maut (to wave one’s hand) · mi pīoi (to move back and forth repeatedly) · nup wúgwa (to wave one’s hand) · de flattern (to move back and forth repeatedly) · mi ringaringa (to wave one’s hand) · sk mávať (to wave one’s hand) · fi kihartaa (to produce waves to the hair) · ba өлтәнләү (to move back and forth repeatedly) · ru ви́ться (to move back and forth repeatedly) · es ondear (to move back and forth repeatedly) · es ondear (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · ba елпелдәү (to move back and forth repeatedly) · mi whakamanana (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · lv māt (to wave one’s hand) · ga croith (to wave one’s hand) · de wellen (to have an undulating or wavy form) · hu integet (to wave one’s hand) · nrf poffer (to produce waves to the hair) · tl kulutan (to produce waves to the hair) · da vifte (to move back and forth repeatedly) · uk розвіва́тися (to move back and forth repeatedly) · sl mahati (to wave one’s hand) · sl pomahati (to wave one’s hand) · it ondeggiare (to move back and forth repeatedly) · gd crath (to move back and forth repeatedly) · mk мавне (to wave one’s hand) · fi heiluttaa (to wave one’s hand) · fi aaltoilla (to move back and forth repeatedly) · ms lambai (to wave one’s hand) · lv viļņot (to move back and forth repeatedly) · pl powiewać (to move back and forth repeatedly) · pl zamachać (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · ltg mest (to wave one’s hand) · mk мавта (to wave one’s hand) · sh lepršati (to move back and forth repeatedly) · fi vilkuttaa (to signal with a waving movement) · bg къдря (to produce waves to the hair) · pl falować (to move back and forth repeatedly) · ru маха́ть (to wave one’s hand) · vi vẫy tay (to wave one’s hand) · ro ondula (to move back and forth repeatedly) · aii ܠܲܦܹܐ (to produce waves to the hair) · mi tāwhiu (to move back and forth repeatedly) · la vibrō (to cause to move back and forth repeatedly) · de wogen (to move back and forth repeatedly) · tl magwagayway (to move back and forth repeatedly) · mi manana (to move back and forth repeatedly) · mi pō(w)hiri (to wave one’s hand) · sh máhati (to wave one’s hand) · sk zamávať (to wave one’s hand) · be памаха́ць (to wave one’s hand) · bg ма́хам (to wave one’s hand) · el κυματίζω (to have an undulating or wavy form) · tl kawayan (to signal with a waving movement)
From Middle English *wave, partially from waven (“to fluctuate, wave”) (see above) and partially from Middle English wawe, waghe (“wave”), from Old English wǣg (“a wave, billow, motion, water, flood, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz (“motion, storm, wave”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to drag, carry”).
Cognates
Cognate with North Frisian waag (“wave”), West Frisian weach (“wave”), Dutch waag (“wave”), German Woge, Wooge (“wave”), Danish vove, våg (“wave”), Faroese vágur (“bay”), Icelandic vogur (“bay”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish våg (“wave”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌲𐍃 (wēgs, “wave”), French vague (“wave”) (from Old Norse vágr (“ocean, sea; wave”)). See also waw.
Meanings
A moving disturbance in the level of a body of liquid; an undulation.
A wave simulator in the tank can re-enact tsunamis and northeasters, and imitate wave conditions from midocean. 2007 February 20, Tina Kelley, “A Wet Wind Tunnel So Ships Can Move Faster and Better”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Dec 2022:
The wave traveled from the center of the lake before breaking on the shore.
The new sea wall may stop the waves from the sea, but not from the children who enthusiastically greet our train as it passes. It's great to see this ages-old habit is still going strong. 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 65:
O God! can I not save / One from the pitiless wave? / Is all that we see or seem / But a dream within a dream? 1849 March 31, Edgar Allan Poe, “A Dream Within a Dream”, in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe: […], volumes II (Poems and Miscellanies), New York, N.Y.: J. S. Redfield, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 40:
(poetic) The ocean.
Whoever rules the waves rules the world... 2024 January 14, Kim Darroch, “Whoever rules the waves rules the world... The Red Sea crisis will show us if that’s true”, in The Observer:
1895, Fiona Macleod (William Sharp), The Sin-Eater and Other Tales
[…] your father Murtagh Ross, and his lawful childless wife, Dionaid, and his sister Anna—one and all, they lie beneath the green wave or in the brown mould.
A moving disturbance in the energy level of a field.
Gravity waves, while predicted by theory for decades, have been notoriously difficult to detect.
Beyond military applications, cloaking devices are drawing interest from telecommunications companies, who see them as a way to send information by light more efficiently. One idea is to use the new materials to build "superantennas" that can concentrate light and other electromagnetic waves to make laser-like beams. 2010 March 18, Ian Sample, “Cloaking device makes objects invisible – to infrared light anyway”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Feb 2023:
A shape that alternatingly curves in opposite directions.
sine wave
Her hair had a nice wave to it.
Any of a number of species of moths in the geometrid subfamily Sterrhinae, which have wavy markings on the wings.
A loose back-and-forth movement, as of the hands.
He dismissed her with a wave of the hand.
(figuratively) A sudden, but temporary, uptick in something.
A wave of emotion overcame her when she thought about her son who was killed in battle.
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. 2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham”, in BBC:
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.
(qualifier:logistics) Any of a series of orders to be fulfilled in one short interval of time, planned as part of wave picking.
(figuratively) A movement or trend in popular culture.
Korean Wave
New Wave
(broadly) One of the successive swarms of enemies sent to attack the player in certain games.
As the player eliminates each wave of 55 aliens, the next wave begins lower than the one previous. 2011, Raffaele Cecco, Supercharged JavaScript Graphics: With HTML5 Canvas and jQuery:
(qualifier:usually “the wave”) 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.
From Middle English *wave, partially from waven (“to fluctuate, wave”) (see above) and partially from Middle English wawe, waghe (“wave”), from Old English wǣg (“a wave, billow, motion, water, flood, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz (“motion, storm, wave”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to drag, carry”).
Cognates
Cognate with North Frisian waag (“wave”), West Frisian weach (“wave”), Dutch waag (“wave”), German Woge, Wooge (“wave”), Danish vove, våg (“wave”), Faroese vágur (“bay”), Icelandic vogur (“bay”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish våg (“wave”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌲𐍃 (wēgs, “wave”), French vague (“wave”) (from Old Norse vágr (“ocean, sea; wave”)). See also waw.
Meanings
To generate a wave.
If the electron had wavelike properties, then what was disturbing the medium in which the wave existed? What was waving? 2021, Michio Kaku, The God Equation:
Ladies and gentlemen—I am ordered by Miss Woodhouse to say, that she waves her right of knowing exactly what you may all be thinking of, and only requires something very entertaining from each of you, in a general way. 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Emma: […], volume III, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 119: