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Waft vs Wag - What's the difference?

waft | wag |

As verbs the difference between waft and wag

is that waft is (ergative) to (cause to) float easily or gently through the air while wag is .

As a noun waft

is a light breeze.

waft

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (ergative) To (cause to) float easily or gently through the air.
  • * A breeze came in through the open window and wafted her sensuous perfume into my eager nostrils.
  • * 1922 , (James Joyce), Chapter 13
    • Through the open window of the church the fragrant incense was wafted and with it the fragrant names of her who was conceived without stain of original sin…
  • * 1914 , Hugh G. Evelyn-White’s translation of Hymn to Aphrodite from the .[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D6]
    • There the moist breath of the western wind wafted her over the waves of the loud-moaning sea in soft foam, and there the gold-filleted Hours welcomed her joyously.
  • To be moved, or to pass, on a buoyant medium; to float.
  • * Dryden
    • And now the shouts waft near the citadel.
  • To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon.
  • * Shakespeare
    • But soft: who wafts us yonder?

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A light breeze.
  • Something (a scent or odor), such as a perfume, that is carried through the air.
  • * 1908 ,
    • Meanwhile, the wafts from his old home pleaded, whispered, conjured, and finally claimed him imperiously.
  • * 2010 September, "The SLM'' Calendar", , ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 170:
    • Patrol Magazine says of this Oxford, Miss., band: "Guitars are responsible for every noise in Colour Revolt's mix—not a single note of piano, waft of synthesizer, or evidence of electronic tampering are to be found."
  • (nautical) A flag, (also called a waif or wheft), used to indicate wind direction or, with a knot tied in the center, as a signal.

    • wag

    English

    Verb

  • To swing from side to side, especially of an animal's tail
  • * Shakespeare
    • No discerner durst wag his tongue in censure.
  • * Bible, Jer. xviii. 16
    • Every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
  • (UK, Australia, slang) To play truant from school.
  • * 1848 , Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, xxii
    • "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."
  • * 1901 , William Sylvester Walker, In the Blood, i. 13
    • They had "wagged it" from school, as they termed it, which..meant truancy in all its forms.
  • (obsolete) To be in action or motion; to move; to get along; to progress; to stir.
  • * Shakespeare
    • "Thus we may see," quoth he, "how the world wags ."
  • (obsolete) To go; to depart.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I will provoke him to 't, or let him wag .

    Derived terms

    * (to not go to school) play the wag; hop the wag; wag it * to finger-wag

    See also

    * waggle (frequentative) * wiggle

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An oscillating movement.
    • The wag of my dog's tail expresses happiness.
  • A witty person.

    • See also

    * skivitis

    References

    * The Oxford English Dictionary, (1989) Accessed 23 Feb. 2006. * Jonathon Green, "wag," The Cassell Dictionary of Slang, (1998) p. 1257.

    Anagrams

    * ----