wave

verb

1》 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.

2》 move to and fro with a swaying motion while remaining fixed to one point.

3》 style (hair) so that it curls slightly.

    ↘(of hair) grow with a slight curl.

noun

1》 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.

2》 a sudden occurrence of or increase in a specified phenomenon or emotion: a crime wave.

3》 a gesture or signal made by waving one's hand.

4》 a slightly curling lock of hair.

    ↘a tendency to curl in a person's hair.

5》 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.

Phrases

make waves informal

1》 create a significant impression.

2》 cause trouble.

Derivatives

waveless adjective

Origin

OE wafian (v.), from the Gmc base of waver; the noun by alt. (influenced by the verb) of ME wawe '(sea) wave'.

Usage

On the confusion between wave and waive, see usage at waive.