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Wave

//weɪv// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun

1
A moving disturbance in the level of a body of liquid; an undulation.
"The wave traveled from the center of the lake before breaking on the shore."
2
A members of the WAVES; a member of the US Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve). US, historical
"[H]e read the faded sticker on the crystal of the door, “A slip of the lip can sink a ship.” Below a WAVE held her finger to lips that had turned tan."
3
a movement like that of a sudden occurrence or increase in a specified phenomenon wordnet
4
The ocean. poetic
"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."
5
a hairdo that creates undulations in the hair wordnet

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6
A moving disturbance in the energy level of a field.
"Gravity waves, while predicted by theory for decades, have been notoriously difficult to detect."
7
the act of signaling by a movement of the hand wordnet
8
A shape that alternatingly curves in opposite directions.
"Her hair had a nice wave to it."
9
(physics) a movement up and down or back and forth wordnet
10
Any of a number of species of moths in the geometrid subfamily Sterrhinae, which have wavy markings on the wings.
11
one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water) wordnet
12
A loose back-and-forth movement, as of the hands.
"He dismissed her with a wave of the hand."
13
something that rises rapidly wordnet
14
A sudden, but temporary, uptick in something. figuratively
"A wave of shoppers stampeded through the door when the store opened for its Christmas discount special."
15
a member of the women's reserve of the United States Navy; originally organized during World War II but now no longer a separate branch wordnet
16
Any of a series of orders to be fulfilled in one short interval of time, planned as part of wave picking.
17
a persistent and widespread unusual weather condition (especially of unusual temperatures) wordnet
18
A movement or trend in popular culture. figuratively
"New Wave"
19
an undulating curve wordnet
20
One of the successive swarms of enemies sent to attack the player in certain games. broadly
"As the player eliminates each wave of 55 aliens, the next wave begins lower than the one previous."
21
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 move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely. intransitive
"The flag waved in the gentle breeze."
2
To generate a wave.
"If the electron had wavelike properties, then what was disturbing the medium in which the wave existed? What was waving?"
3
Obsolete spelling of waive. alt-of, obsolete
"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."
4
set waves in wordnet
5
To move one's hand back and forth (generally above the shoulders) in greeting or departure. intransitive
"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."

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6
signal with the hands or nod wordnet
7
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. metonymically, transitive
"I waved goodbye from across the room."
8
twist or roll into coils or ringlets wordnet
9
To have an undulating or wavy form. intransitive
10
move or swing back and forth wordnet
11
To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to. transitive
"horns whelked and waved like the enridged sea"
12
move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion wordnet
13
To style (the hair) so as to produce a wavy texture. transitive
"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;[…]."
14
To swing and miss at a pitch. intransitive
"Jones waves at strike one."
15
To cause to move back and forth repeatedly. transitive
"The starter waved the flag to begin the race."
16
To signal (someone or something) with a waving movement. metonymically, transitive
17
To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state. intransitive, obsolete
"He waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good nor harm."
18
To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft. ergative, intransitive
"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"

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

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.

Etymology 3

Etymology 4

See waive.

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