v.
- move one's hand to and fro in greeting or as a signal.
▸move (one's hand or arm, or something held in one's hand) to and fro.
▸
(wave someone/thing down)
wave one's hand to stop a driver or vehicle.
▸
(wave something aside)
dismiss something as unnecessary or irrelevant.
- move to and fro with a swaying motion while remaining fixed to one point.
- style (hair) so that it curls slightly.
▸(of hair) grow with a slight curl.
n.
- a ridge of water curling into an arched form and breaking on the shore or between two depressions in open water.
▸
(the waves)
literary the sea.
- a sudden occurrence of or increase in a specified phenomenon or emotion:
a crime wave.
- a gesture or signal made by waving one's hand.
- a slightly curling lock of hair.
▸a tendency to curl in a person's hair.
- Physics a periodic disturbance of the particles of a substance which may be propagated without net movement of the particles, as in the passage of undulating motion or sound.
▸a single curve in the course of this motion.
▸a similar variation of an electromagnetic field in the propagation of light or other radiation.
Phrase
- make waves
informal - create a significant impression.
- cause trouble.
Derivative
Usage
On the confusion between wave and waive, see usage at waive.
Etymology
OE wafian (v.), from the Gmc base of waver; the noun by alt. (influenced by the verb) of ME wawe ‘(sea) wave’.