Waggle
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 An instance of waggling.
- 2 causing to move repeatedly from side to side wordnet
- 3 A wobbling motion.
"Give the cable a waggle to let it come out quicker."
- 4 The preliminary swinging of the club head back and forth over the ball in the line of the proposed stroke.
- 1 To move (something) with short, quick motions; to wobble. transitive
"The Mole waggled his toes from sheer happiness, spread his chest with a sigh of full contentment, and leaned back blissfully into the soft cushions."
- 2 move unsteadily or with a weaving or rolling motion wordnet
- 3 To quickly raise and lower in rapid succession, usually as an implication of slyness, smugness, or suggestiveness. transitive
- 4 move from side to side wordnet
- 5 To reel, sway, or move from side to side; to move with a wagging motion; to waddle. intransitive
"I know you by the waggling of your head."
Example
More examples"The Mole waggled his toes from sheer happiness, spread his chest with a sigh of full contentment, and leaned back blissfully into the soft cushions."
Etymology
From Middle English wagelen (attested in wagelyng), possibly a borrowing of Middle Low German wagelen; equivalent to wag + -le (“(frequentative)”). Compare continental equivalents Middle High German wacken ( > Danish vakle, German wackeln), Swedish vagla, West Frisian waggelje, Low German wackeln, Dutch waggelen.
Related phrases
More for "waggle"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.