Dictionary entry

Wave (2)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Wave, v. i. [imp. & p. p.Waved (?); p. pr. & vb. n.Waving.] [OE. waven, AS. wafian to waver, to hesitate, to wonder; akin to wæfre wavering, restless, MHG. wabern to be in motion, Icel. vafra to hover about; cf. Icel. vāfa to vibrate. Cf. Waft, Waver.]

1. To play loosely; to move like a wave, one way and the other; to float; to flutter; to undulate.

His purple robes waved careless to the winds. Trumbull.

Where the flags of three nations has successively waved. Hawthorne.

2. To be moved to and fro as a signal. B. Jonson.

3. To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state; to vacillate.

He waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good nor harm. Shak.