Definitions for: Wave


[n] a movement like that of an ocean wave; "a wave of settlers"; "troops advancing in waves"
[n] a hairdo that creates undulations in the hair
[n] the act of signaling by a movement of the hand
[n] (physics) a progressive disturbance propagated without displacement of the medium itself
[n] one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)
[n] something that rises rapidly and dies away; "a wave of emotion swept over him"; "there was a sudden wave of buying before the market closed"
[n] an undulating curve
[v] set waves in; of hair
[v] signal with the hands or nod; "She waved to her friends"; "He waved his hand hospitably"
[v] move or swing back and forth; "She waved her gun."
[v] twist or roll into coils or ringlets; "curl my hair, please"
[v] move in a wavy pattern, as of curtains



Webster (1913) Definition: Wave, n.
Something resembling or likened to a water wave, as in rising
unusually high, in being of unusual extent, or in progressive
motion; a swelling or excitement, as of feeling or energy; a
tide; flood; period of intensity, usual activity, or the
like; as, a wave of enthusiasm.


Wave (w[=a]v), v. t.
See Waive. --Sir H. Wotton. Burke.


Wave, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Waved (w[=a]vd); p. pr. & vb.
n. Waving.] [OE. waven, AS. wafian to waver, to hesitate,
to wonder; akin to w[ae]fre wavering, restless, MHG. wabern
to be in motion, Icel. vafra to hover about; cf. Icel.
v[=a]fa 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. [Obs.]

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


Wave, v. t.
1. To move one way and the other; to brandish. ``[[AE]neas]
waved his fatal sword.'' --Dryden.

2. To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an
undulating form a surface to.

Horns whelked and waved like the enridged sea.
--Shak.

3. To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft. [Obs.] --Sir
T. Browne.

4. 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.

Look, with what courteous action It waves you to a
more removed ground. --Shak.

She spoke, and bowing waved Dismissal. --Tennyson.


Wave, n. [From Wave, v.; not the same word as OE. wawe,
waghe, a wave, which is akin to E. wag to move. [root]136.
See Wave, v. i.]
1. An advancing ridge or swell on the surface of a liquid, as
of the sea, resulting from the oscillatory motion of the
particles composing it when disturbed by any force their
position of rest; an undulation.

The wave behind impels the wave before. --Pope.

2. (Physics) A vibration propagated from particle to particle
through a body or elastic medium, as in the transmission
of sound; an assemblage of vibrating molecules in all
phases of a vibration, with no phase repeated; a wave of
vibration; an undulation. See Undulation.

3. Water; a body of water. [Poetic] ``Deep drank Lord Marmion
of the wave.'' --Sir W. Scott.

Build a ship to save thee from the flood, I 'll
furnish thee with fresh wave, bread, and wine.
--Chapman.

4. Unevenness; inequality of surface. --Sir I. Newton.

5. A waving or undulating motion; a signal made with the
hand, a flag, etc.

6. The undulating line or streak of luster on cloth watered,
or calendered, or on damask steel.

7. Fig.: A swelling or excitement of thought, feeling, or
energy; a tide; as, waves of enthusiasm.

Wave front (Physics), the surface of initial displacement
of the particles in a medium, as a wave of vibration
advances.

Wave length (Physics), the space, reckoned in the direction
of propagation, occupied by a complete wave or undulation,
as of light, sound, etc.; the distance from a point or
phase in a wave to the nearest point at which the same
phase occurs.

Wave line (Shipbuilding), a line of a vessel's hull, shaped
in accordance with the wave-line system.

Wave-line system, Wave-line theory (Shipbuilding), a
system or theory of designing the lines of a vessel, which
takes into consideration the length and shape of a wave
which travels at a certain speed.

Wave loaf, a loaf for a wave offering. --Lev. viii. 27.

Wave moth (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of small
geometrid moths belonging to Acidalia and allied genera;
-- so called from the wavelike color markings on the
wings.

Wave offering, an offering made in the Jewish services by
waving the object, as a loaf of bread, toward the four
cardinal points. --Num. xviii. 11.

Wave of vibration (Physics), a wave which consists in, or
is occasioned by, the production and transmission of a
vibratory state from particle to particle through a body.


Wave surface.
(a) (Physics) A surface of simultaneous and equal
displacement of the particles composing a wave of
vibration.
(b) (Geom.) A mathematical surface of the fourth order
which, upon certain hypotheses, is the locus of a wave
surface of light in the interior of crystals. It is
used in explaining the phenomena of double refraction.
See under Refraction.

Wave theory. (Physics) See Undulatory theory, under
Undulatory.


Wave, n. [See Woe.]
Woe. [Obs.]

Synonyms: beckon, brandish, curl, flap, flourish, moving ridge, undulate, undulation, undulation, wafture, waving

See Also: acoustic wave, arrange, backwash, billow, brandish, breaker, breakers, coif, coiffe, coiffure, coiffure, crape, crestless wave, crimp, curve, curved shape, displace, do, dress, finger wave, flap, flapping, flourish, fluctuation, flutter, fluttering, frizz, frizzle, gesticulate, gesture, gesture, gravitation wave, gravity wave, hair style, hairdo, hold, impulse, kink, kink up, lift, luff, marcel, motility, motion, motion, motion, motion, move, move, move, movement, movement, oscillation, periodic event, perm, perm, permanent, permanent wave, pulsation, pulse, pulsing, recurrent event, riffle, ripple, rippling, rise, roll, roller, rolling wave, seiche, set, sine curve, sine wave, sinusoid, sound wave, standing wave, stationary wave, surf, surge, swash, swell, take hold, tidal wave, tsunami, twist, vibration, wake, wave form, wave front, wave shape, waveform, wavelet, white horse, whitecap, wigwag

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