Wave — Defs

01 v. t. See Waive.

1.
See Waive. See: Waive

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

imp. & p. p. Waved; p. pr. & vb. n. Waving

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.
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.

03 v. t. To move one way and the other; to brandish.

1.
To move one way and the other; to brandish.
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.]
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.

04 n. 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 …

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.
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.(Physics) See: Undulation
3.
Water; a body of water.[Poetic]
“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.
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.
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; waves of applause.

Phrases & compounds

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

Wave length — 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 — a line of a vessel's hull, shaped in accordance with the wave-line system.

Wave-line system — 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.

Wave moth — 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.

Wave of vibration — 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 surface of simultaneous and equal displacement of the particles composing a wave of vibration.

Wave theory — See Undulatory theory, under Undulatory.