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Wane vs Wave - What's the difference?

wane | wave |

As nouns the difference between wane and wave

is that wane is a gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc or wane can be (scotland|slang) a child or wane can be (chiefly|northern england|and|scotland|obsolete) a house or dwelling while wave is a moving disturbance in the level of a body of water; an undulation.

As verbs the difference between wane and wave

is that wane is (label) to progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc; to decline while wave is (lb) to move back and forth repeatedly or wave can be .

wane

English

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from (etyl) ("-ig" being a derivatem suffix, "-er" the suffix of comparatives).

Noun

(en noun)
  • A gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.
  • * 1853 , , "Bartleby, the Scrivener," in Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories'', New York: Penguin, 1968; reprinted 1995 as ''Bartleby , ISBN 0146000129, p. 3,
  • In the morning, one might say, his face was of a fine florid hue, but after twelve o'clock, meridian -- his dinner hour -- it blazed like a grate full of Christmas coals; and continued blazing -- but, as it were, with a gradual wane -- till six o'clock, PM, or thereabouts; after which, I saw no more of the proprietor of the face, [...].
  • * 1913 , Michael Ott, The Catholic Encyclopedia , "",
  • His influence which was on the wane during the reign of Joseph II grew still less during the reign of Leopold II (1790-2).
  • The lunar phase during which the sun seems to illuminate less of the moon as its sunlit area becomes less visible from Earth.
  • * 1926 , ",
  • It was very dark, for although the sky was clear the moon was now well in the wane , and would not rise till the small hours.
  • (literary) The end of a period.
  • * 1845 , ,
  • The situation of the Venetian party in the wane of the eighteenth century had become extremely critical.
  • (woodworking) A rounded corner caused by lack of wood, often showing bark.
  • * 2002 , Peter Ross, Appraisal and Repair of Timber Structures , p. 11,
  • Sapwood, or even bark, may appear on the corners, or may have been cut off, resulting in wane , or missing timber.
    Synonyms
    * decrease, decline
    Usage notes
    * When referring to the moon or a time period, the word is found mostly in prepositional phrases like (term) or (term).

    Verb

    (wan)
  • (label) To progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc.; to decline.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • You saw but sorrow in its waning form.
  • * Sir (Josiah Child) (1630-1699)
  • Land and trade ever will wax and wane together.
  • * 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby-Dick) , :
  • I have sat before the dense coal fire and watched it all aglow, full of its tormented flaming life; and I have seen it wane at last, down, down, to dumbest dust.
  • * 1902 , (John Masefield), "":
  • And in the cool twilight when the sea-winds wane
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./1/1
  • , passage=And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties?; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, […].}}
  • (label) Said of light that dims or diminishes in strength.
  • * 1894 , (Algernon Charles Swinburne), :
  • The skies may hold not the splendour of sundown fast; / It wanes into twilight as dawn dies down into day.
  • Said of the Moon as it passes through the phases of its monthly cycle where its surface is less and less visible.
  • * 1866 , (Sabine Baring-Gould), Curious Myths of the Middle Ages , "":
  • The fall of Jack, and the subsequent fall of Jill, simply represent the vanishing of one moon-spot after another, as the moon wanes .
  • (label) Said of a time period that comes to an end.
  • * 1894 , (Algernon Charles Swinburne), "":
  • Fast as autumn days toward winter: yet it seems//Here that autumn wanes not, here that woods and streams
  • To decrease physically in size, amount, numbers or surface.
  • * 1815 , (Walter Scott), (Guy Mannering) , chapter XIX:
  • The snow which had been for some time waning , had given way entirely under the fresh gale of the preceding night.
  • * {{quote-web, date=2012-08-30, author=Ann Gibbons, site=Science Now
  • , title= Genome Brings Ancient Girl to Life , accessdate=2012-09-04 , passage=Denisovans had little genetic diversity, suggesting that their small population waned further as populations of modern humans expanded.}}
  • To cause to decrease.
  • (Ben Jonson)
  • * 1797 , (Anna Seward), Letter to Mrs Childers of Yorkshire :
  • Proud once and princely was the mansion, ere a succession of spendthrifts waned away its splendour.
    Antonyms
    * wax
    Derived terms
    * wax and wane

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) wean.

    Alternative forms

    * wain, waine, wean

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Scotland, slang) A child.
  • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) , of unclear origins, compare wont.

    Alternative forms

    * wone (Southern England)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chiefly, Northern England, and, Scotland, obsolete) A house or dwelling.
  • Anagrams

    * * * ----

    wave

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) waven, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (wav)
  • (lb) To move back and forth repeatedly.
  • :
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Tom Fordyce, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland , passage=But the World Cup winning veteran's left boot was awry again, the attempt sliced horribly wide of the left upright, and the saltires were waving aloft again a moment later when a long pass in the England midfield was picked off to almost offer up a breakaway try.}}
  • (lb) To wave one’s hand in greeting or departure.
  • :
  • (lb) To have an undulating or wavy form.
  • (lb) To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:horns whelked and waved like the enridged sea
  • (lb) To produce waves to the hair.
  • *
  • *: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;.
  • To swing and miss at a pitch.
  • :
  • (lb) To cause to move back and forth repeatedly.
  • :
  • (lb) To signal (someone or something) with a waving movement.
  • To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:He waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good nor harm.
  • To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft.
  • :(Sir Thomas Browne)
  • 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.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Look, with what courteous action / It waves you to a more removed ground.
  • * (1809-1892)
  • *:She spoke, and bowing waved / Dismissal.
  • Derived terms
    * wave off * waver * wave the white flag

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) *.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A moving disturbance in the level of a body of water; an undulation.
  • The wave traveled from the center of the lake before breaking on the shore.
  • (physics) A moving disturbance in the energy level of a field.
  • Gravity waves , while predicted by theory for decades, have been notoriously difficult to detect.
  • A shape that alternatingly curves in opposite directions.
  • Her hair had a nice wave to it.
    sine wave
  • (figuratively) A sudden unusually large amount of something that is temporarily experienced.
  • A wave of shoppers stampeded through the door when the store opened for its Christmas discount special.
    A wave of retirees began moving to the coastal area.
    A wave of emotion overcame her when she thought about her son who was killed in battle.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=January 11 , author=Jonathan Stevenson , title=West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Foster had been left unsighted by Scott Dann's positioning at his post, but the goalkeeper was about to prove his worth to Birmingham by keeping them in the game with a series of stunning saves as West Ham produced waves' after ' wave of attack in their bid to find a crucial second goal.}}
  • A sideway movement of the hand(s).
  • With a wave of the hand.
  • 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. Usually referred to as "the wave"
  • Derived terms
    * Elliott wave * make waves * Mexican wave * waveband * wave field synthesis * wave function * waveguide * wavelength * wavelet * wave mechanics * wave number * wave packet * wave-particle duality * wave ski * wave train * wave vector * wavy
    Synonyms
    * (an undulation) (l)

    Etymology 3

    See waive.