Link Centre Dictionary

wave

UK/wɛjv/ US/weɪv/ common us
noun (9) verb (5)

noun

1.

one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)

Synonyms
2.

a movement like that of an ocean wave

  • “a wave of settlers”
  • “troops advancing in waves”
3.

(physics) a movement up and down or back and forth

Synonyms
4.

something that rises rapidly

  • “a wave of emotion swept over him”
  • “there was a sudden wave of buying before the market closed”
  • “a wave of conservatism in the country led by the hard right”
5.

the act of signaling by a movement of the hand

Synonyms
6.

a hairdo that creates undulations in the hair

7.

an undulating curve

Synonyms
8.

a persistent and widespread unusual weather condition (especially of unusual temperatures)

  • “a heat wave”
9.

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

verb

1.

signal with the hands or nod

  • “She waved to her friends”
  • “He waved his hand hospitably”
Synonyms
2.

move or swing back and forth

  • “She waved her gun”
Synonyms
3.

move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion

  • “The curtains undulated”
  • “the waves rolled towards the beach”
Synonyms
4.

twist or roll into coils or ringlets

  • “curl my hair, please”
Synonyms
5.

set waves in

  • “she asked the hairdresser to wave her hair”

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • aether wave
  • Alfven wave
  • alpha wave
  • audience wave
  • Bangemann wave
  • beta wave
  • wave aside
  • wave away
  • wave down
  • wave goodbye
  • wave in
  • wave the bloody shirt

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Part of

Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.