Waver
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waver¹
- /ˈweɪvə/ UK
- /ˈweɪvəɹ/ US
Sounds like waiver · Rhymes with -eɪvə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
The verb is derived from Middle English waveren (“to move back and forth, swing; to move unsteadily, totter; to shake, tremble; to wander; (figurative) to be changeable or unstable; to deviate”), and then possibly:
* from Old English (compare Old English wǣfre (“flickering, quivering, wavering; active, nimble (?)”)), related to Old English wafian (“to wave”) from Proto-West Germanic *wabbjan (“to cause to weave; to entangle; to wrap”), from Proto-Germanic *wabjaną (“to cause to weave; to entangle; to wrap”); and/or
* from Old Norse vafra (“to move unsteadily, flicker”), probably related to vefa (“to weave”);
both from Proto-Germanic *webaną (“to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”). Doublet of wave.
The noun is derived from the verb.
verb wavers · wavering · wavered · waver
- To swing or wave, especially in the air, wind, etc.; to flutter. Flowers wavered in the breeze.
- To move without purpose or a specified destination; to roam, to wander. [T]here vvere tvvo Channels, one on the North, another on the South, vvhere through the fiſher-men did vvander and vvauer vp to Norvvitch, and diuers parts of Suffolke and Norfolke, […]
- To sway back and forth, as if about to fall; to reel, to stagger, to totter. […] Oza for puttyng his hande to the holy ſhryne⸝ that vvas called Archa federis [the Ark of the Covenant]⸝ whan it was broughte by kyng Dauid frõ [from] the citie of Baba [i.e., Ba'alah or Kiriath-Jearim]⸝ though it were wauerynge and in daunger to fall⸝ yet was he ſtryken of god⸝ and fell deed [de
- To begin to weaken or show signs of weakening in resolve; to falter, to flinch, to give way. Despite all the terrible things that happened to her, she never wavered from her beliefs.
- To feel or show doubt or indecision; to be indecisive between choices; to vacillate. […] I ſhall not much vvaver to affirm that thoſe vvords vvhich are made to intimate, as if they forbad all divorce but for adultery […] thoſe vvords tak'n circumſcriptly, […] are as much againſt plain equity, and the mercy of religion, […]
- Of a body part such as an eye or hand, or the voice: to become unsteady; to shake, to tremble. His voice wavered when the reporter brought up the controversial topic.
- Of light, shadow, or a partly obscured thing: to flicker, to glimmer, to quiver. For I took at once tvvo Triangular Glaſſes, and one of them being kept fixt in the ſame Poſture, that the Iris it projected on the Floor might not VVaver, I caſt on the ſame Floor another Iris vvith the other Priſm, and Moving it too and fro to bring vvhat part of the ſecond Iris I pleas'd, to fall
- Chiefly of a quality or thing: to change, to fluctuate, to vary. [T]he Englyſhe affaires (as you haue heard) within yͤ realme began to wauer, and waxe variable, whyche cauſed the Engliſhe capitaines, to be of diuerſe opinions.
- Followed by from: to deviate from a course; to stray, to wander. And gif it be ane beaſt, ane buke being placed betvvix the hornes of the beaſt, or vpon his forehead, and he and his vvitnes, at the leaſt tvva, ſall ſvveare that, that beaſt did vvaver avvay from him, as he affirmed in his clame; and that he vvas not given, nor ſauld be him to any man, in any maner
- Of the wits: to become confused or unsteady; to reel. I am hungry, and I am vveary, and I cannot find him. / Keep my wits heaven, I feele 'em wavering, / O God my head.
- To cause (someone or something) to move back and forth. [I]f the Admirall ſhall happen to hull in the night: then to make a wauering light ouer his other light, wauering the light vpon a pole.
- To cause (someone) to begin to or show signs of weakening in resolve; also (rare), to weaken in resolve due to (something). Th'vnconſtant Barrons, vvauering euery houre, / The fierce encounter of this raging tyde, / No ſtrategem yet ſtrongly policied; […]
noun wavers
- An act of moving back and forth, swinging, or waving; a flutter, a tremble. No a bit butterflee on its silent waver, meeting the murmur of the straightforward bee.
- A state of beginning to weaken or showing signs of weakening in resolve; a falter. I hear the soldiers talk as I ride by, "There goes the old man. All's right." Not a waver, doubt, or hesitation when I order, and men march to certain death without a murmur if I call on them, because they know I value their lives as much as my own.
- A state of feeling or showing doubt or indecision; a vacillation. "Does she mean to accept him?" asked Travice. "Well, she's on the waver. She does not dislike him, and she does not particularly like him. He's too old for her; he's twenty years older than Liz; but it's her first offer, and young women are apt to think when they get that, they had better accept it,
waver²
- /ˈweɪvə/ UK
- /ˈweɪvəɹ/ US
Sounds like waiver · Rhymes with -eɪvə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From wave (verb) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).
noun wavers
- One who waves their arms, or causes something to swing or wave. I felt encouraged by all the enthusiastic wavers in the crowd.
- A person who specializes in treating hair to make it wavy.
- A tool used to make hair wavy.
- In full waver roller: a roller which places ink on the inking table of a printing press with a back and forth, waving motion.
- Synonym of waverer (“one who feels or shows doubt or indecision; a vacillator”). [N]o waver in Judgment, have I, though Gods mercy, ever been; but a conſtant aſſertor of, and ſufferer for my ſatisfiedneſs in, and adheſion to, the piety and probity of my breeding and belief, vvhich vvas ever, yet is, and I hope, through Gods grace, to death ſhall be, in point of Religion accordin
waver³
- /ˈweɪvə/ UK
- /ˈweɪvəɹ/ US
Sounds like waiver · Rhymes with -eɪvə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Origin uncertain, possibly from waive (“(obsolete) to disregard, overlook”). According to the Oxford English Dictionary the early forms waiver, wayver, weaver indicate that the word is probably not derived from wave (verb).
noun wavers
- A sapling or other young tree left standing when other trees around it have been felled. It is a very ordinary Copſe vvhich vvill not afford three or four Firſts, that is, Beſts; fourteen Seconds; tvvelve Thirds; eight VVavers, &c. according to vvhich proportions the ſizes of young Trees in Copſing are to ſucceed one another.
Waver⁴
proper noun
- A river in northern Cumbria, England, which flows into the Solway Firth.
