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Wag

//wæɡ// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An oscillating movement.

    "The wag of my dog's tail expresses happiness."

  2. 2
    A wife or girlfriend of a sports star or other celebrity, originally and especially of an association football player. Ireland, informal

    "The World Cup WAGs are a good example of this. The younger girls, nicknamed the ‘hen-night crowd’ and led by Colleen McLoughlin, dance on tables and drink until the early hours while No. 1 WAG Victoria Beckham remains aloof, dining sedately with Ashley Cole’s fiancee, Cheryl Tweedy."

  3. 3
    Acronym of wild-assed guess; a rough estimate. US, abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, informal, slang
  4. 4
    causing to move repeatedly from side to side wordnet
  5. 5
    A witty person.

    "Was not my Lord The veryer Wag o'th' two?"

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  1. 6
    Acronym of women's artistic gymnastics. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
  2. 7
    a witty amusing person who makes jokes wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To swing from side to side, as an animal's tail, or someone's head to express disagreement or disbelief.

    "No discerner durst wag his tongue in censure."

  2. 2
    move from side to side wordnet
  3. 3
    To play truant from school. Australia, New-Zealand, UK, slang

    ""My misfortunes all began in wagging, Sir; but what could I do, exceptin' wag?" "Excepting what?" said Mr. Carker. "Wag, Sir. Wagging from school." "Do you mean pretending to go there, and not going?" said Mr. Carker. "Yes, Sir, that's wagging, Sir.""

  4. 4
    To go; to proceed; to move; to progress. intransitive, obsolete

    ""Thus we may see," quoth he, "how the world wags.""

  5. 5
    To move continually, especially in gossip; said of the tongue.

    "She's a real gossip: her tongue is always wagging."

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  1. 6
    To leave; to depart. intransitive, obsolete

    "I will provoke him to 't, or let him wag."

  2. 7
    Of the tail (lower order of the batting lineup): to score more runs than expected. intransitive, slang

    "The tail wagged."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English waggen, probably from Old English wagian (“to wag, wave, shake”) with reinforcement from Old Norse vaga (“to wag, waddle”); both from Proto-Germanic *wagōną (“to wag”). Related to English way. The verb may be regarded as an iterative or emphatic form of waw (verb), which is often nearly synonymous; it was used, e.g., of a loose tooth. Parallel formations from the same root are the Old Norse vagga feminine, cradle (Swedish vagga, Danish vugge), Swedish vagga (“to rock a cradle”), vugge (“to rock a cradle”), Dutch wagen (“to move”), early modern German waggen (dialectal German wacken) to waver, totter. Compare waggle, verb

Etymology 2

From Middle English waggen, probably from Old English wagian (“to wag, wave, shake”) with reinforcement from Old Norse vaga (“to wag, waddle”); both from Proto-Germanic *wagōną (“to wag”). Related to English way. The verb may be regarded as an iterative or emphatic form of waw (verb), which is often nearly synonymous; it was used, e.g., of a loose tooth. Parallel formations from the same root are the Old Norse vagga feminine, cradle (Swedish vagga, Danish vugge), Swedish vagga (“to rock a cradle”), vugge (“to rock a cradle”), Dutch wagen (“to move”), early modern German waggen (dialectal German wacken) to waver, totter. Compare waggle, verb

Etymology 3

Back-formation from WAGs (“wives and girlfriends”), mid-2000s.

Etymology 4

Acronyms.

See also for "wag"

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