intransitive verb waved, waving
- to move up and down or back and forth in a curving or undulating motion; swing, sway, or flutter to and fro: said of flexible things free at one end: flags waving in the breeze
- to signal by moving a hand, arm, light, etc. to and fro
- to have the form of a series of curves or undulations: hair that waves naturally
Origin:
ME waven < OE wafian, akin to Ger waben, to fluctuate < IE *webh-, to move to and fro, prob. identical with *webh-, to weave
noun
- a ridge or swell moving along the surface of a liquid or body of water as a result of disturbance, as by wind
- an undulation or series of undulations in or on a surface, such as that caused by wind over a field of grain
- a curve or series of curves or curls, as in the hair
- an appearance of undulation, by reflection of light, on watered fabric
- a motion to and fro or up and down, such as that made by the hand in signaling
- something like a wave in action or effect; specif.,
- an upsurge or rise, as to a crest, or a progressively swelling manifestation: a crime wave, heat wave, wave of emotion, etc.
- a movement of people, etc., in groups or masses, which recedes or grows smaller before subsiding or being followed by another: a wave of immigrants
- Old Poet. water; esp., the sea or other body of water
- Physics a periodic motion or disturbance consisting of a series of many oscillations that propagate through a medium or space, as in the propagation of sound or light: the medium does not travel outward from the source with the wave but only vibrates as it passes
Origin:
altered (based on the v.) < ME wawe, a wave