wave (wāv)

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[Middle English waven, from Old English wafian.]

verb: waved, wav·ing, waves. 

intransitive verb 

1. To move freely back and forth or up and down in the air, as branches in the wind.
2. To make a signal with an up-and-down or back-and-forth movement of the hand or an object held in the hand: waved as she drove by.
3. To have an undulating or wavy form; curve or curl: Her hair waves naturally.

transitive verb 

1. To cause to move back and forth or up and down, either once or repeatedly: She waved a fan before her face.
2. 1. To move or swing as in giving a signal: He waved his hand. See synonyms at flourish
   2. To signal or express by waving the hand or an object held in the hand: We waved goodbye.
   3. To signal (a person) to move in a specified direction: The police officer waved the motorist into the right lane.
3. To arrange into curves, curls, or undulations: wave one's hair.

noun 

1. 1. A ridge or swell moving through or along the surface of a large body of water.
   2. A small ridge or swell moving across the interface of two fluids and dependent on surface tension.
2. The sea. Often used in the plural: vanished beneath the waves.
3. Something that suggests the form and motion of a wave in the sea, especially:
   1. A moving curve or succession of curves in or on a surface; an undulation: waves of wheat in the wind.
   2. A curve or succession of curves, as in the hair.
   3. A curved shape, outline, or pattern.
4. A movement up and down or back and forth: a wave of the hand.
5. 1. A surge or rush, as of sensation: a wave of nausea; a wave of indignation.
   2. A sudden great rise, as in activity or intensity: a wave of panic selling on the stock market.
   3. A rising trend that involves large numbers of individuals: a wave of conservatism.
   4. One of a succession of mass movements: the first wave of settlers.
   5. A maneuver in which fans at a sports event simulate an ocean wave by rising quickly in sequence with arms upraised and then quickly sitting down again in a continuous rolling motion.
6. A widespread, persistent meteorological condition, especially of temperature: a heat wave.
7. Physics
   1. A disturbance traveling through a medium by which energy is transferred from one particle of the medium to another without causing any permanent displacement of the medium itself.
   2. A graphic representation of the variation of such a disturbance with time.
   3. A single cycle of such a disturbance.

phrasal verbs

wave off

To dismiss or refuse by waving the hand or arm: waved off his invitation to join the group.

Sports To cancel or nullify by waving the arms, usually from a crossed position: waved off the goal because time had run out.

derivatives

wav́er

noun

Wave (wāv)

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[From W(omen) A(ccepted for) V(olunteer) E(mergency Service).]

noun 

A member of the women's reserve of the U.S. Navy, organized during World War II, but now no longer a separate branch.