wane

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /weɪn/

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• Rhymes: -eɪn
• Homophones: wain, Wayne

The noun is derived from Old English wana (“defect, shortage”); the verb from Old English wanian via Middle English wanien. Both ultimately trace to Proto-West Germanic *wanōn, from Proto-Germanic *wanōną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to leave, abandon; empty, deserted”).

wane (plural wanes)

1. A gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.
   • 1853, Herman Melville, "Bartleby, the Scrivener," in Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories, New York: Penguin, 1968; reprinted 1995 as Bartleby, →ISBN, p. 3,

     In the morning, one might say, his face was of a fine florid hue, but after twelve o'clock, meridian -- his dinner hour -- it blazed like a grate full of Christmas coals; and continued blazing -- but, as it were, with a gradual wane -- till six o'clock, PM, or thereabouts; after which, I saw no more of the proprietor of the face, [...].

   • 1913, Michael Ott, The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Wenzel Anton Kaunitz",

     His influence which was on the wane during the reign of Joseph II grew still less during the reign of Leopold II (1790-2).

2. The lunar phase during which the sun seems to illuminate less of the moon as its sunlit area becomes progressively smaller as visible from Earth.
   • 1926, H. P. Lovecraft, "The Moon-Bog",

     It was very dark, for although the sky was clear the moon was now well in the wane, and would not rise till the small hours.

3. (literary) The end of a period.
   • 1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son

     The day was in its prime, the day was in its wane, and still, uneasy in mind and body, she slept on.

   • 1845, Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, or The Two Nations, Book 1, Chapter 3,

     The situation of the Venetian party in the wane of the eighteenth century had become extremely critical.

   

   Wane siding on a cabin at S.B. Elliott State Park

4. (woodworking) A rounded corner caused by lack of wood, often showing bark.
   • 2002, Peter Ross, Appraisal and Repair of Timber Structures, p. 11,

     Sapwood, or even bark, may appear on the corners, or may have been cut off, resulting in wane, or missing timber.

• When referring to the moon or a time period, the word is found mostly in prepositional phrases like in or on the wane.

• (a diminution in power, value, etc.): decrease, decline

wane (third-person singular simple present wanes, present participle waning, simple past and past participle waned)

1. (intransitive) To progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc.; to decline.
   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, OCLC 228724395, (please specify the page number):

     You saw but sorrow in its waning form.

   • 1668, Sir Josiah Child, A New Discourse of Trade

     Land and trade ever will wax and wane together.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 118”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299:

     I have sat before the dense coal fire and watched it all aglow, full of its tormented flaming life; and I have seen it wane at last, down, down, to dumbest dust.

   • 1902, John Masefield, "The Golden City of St. Mary":

     And in the cool twilight when the sea-winds wane […]

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

     And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, […].

   • 2022 September 30, Ratcliffe, Rebecca, “Anger after Thai court rules 2014 coup leader can carry on as PM”, in The Guardian‎, Guardian News & Media Limited:

     His popularity, however, has waned, say analysts.

2. (intransitive) Said of light that dims or diminishes in strength.
   • 1894, Algernon Charles Swinburne, A Nympholept:

     The skies may hold not the splendour of sundown fast; / It wanes into twilight as dawn dies down into day.

3. (intransitive, astronomy) Said of the Moon as it passes through the phases of its monthly cycle where its surface is less and less visible.
   • 1866, Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, "The Man in the Moon":

     The fall of Jack, and the subsequent fall of Jill, simply represent the vanishing of one moon-spot after another, as the moon wanes.

4. (intransitive) Said of a time period that comes to an end.
   • 1889, Algernon Charles Swinburne, "A Swimmer's Dream":

     Fast as autumn days toward winter: yet it seems//Here that autumn wanes not, here that woods and streams

5. (intransitive, archaic) To decrease physically in size, amount, numbers or surface.
   • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter XIX, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], OCLC 742335644:

     The snow which had been for some time waning, had given way entirely under the fresh gale of the preceding night.

   • 2012 August 30, Ann Gibbons, “Genome Brings Ancient Girl to Life”, in Science Now, retrieved 2012-09-04:

     Denisovans had little genetic diversity, suggesting that their small population waned further as populations of modern humans expanded.

6. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to decrease.
   • 1610, Ben Jonson, The Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers

     In which no lustful finger can profane him,
     Nor any earth with black eclipses wane him

   • 1797, Anna Seward, Letter to Mrs Childers of Yorkshire:

     Proud once and princely was the mansion, ere a succession of spendthrifts waned away its splendour.

• wax

• wax and wane

From Scots wean.

• wain, waine, wean

wane (plural wanes)

1. (Scotland, slang) A child.

From Middle English wōne, wāne (“dwelling," "custom”), of unclear origins, compare wont.

• wone (Southern England)

wane (plural wanes)

1. (chiefly Northern England and Scotland, obsolete) A house or dwelling.

• Ewan, Newa, anew, wean

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋaː.nə/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: wa‧ne

Uncertain. Compare Sranan Tongo wana.

wane c (uncountable)

1. (Surinam) A type of South American tree that produces hardwood, Sextonia rubra.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

wane

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of wanen

wâne

1. inflection of wânen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive

From Old English wana, wona (noun) and wan, won (noun), related to wanian (“to diminish”).

wane (uncountable)

1. penury, deprivation, neediness
2. lack, absence
3. diminution

• wan, won, wone; wain (Northern)

• English: wane
• Scots: wane, waine

• “wāne, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Probably from Old English wēan or wēana, oblique cases of wēa (“woe, grief, misery”).

wane (plural wanes)

1. woeful, miserable state; adversity; misfortune
2. affliction, tribulation
3. destruction

• wan, won, wone
• weane, wæn, wæne, wæine, wen, wene (early, southwest Midlands)

• English: wane

• “wāne, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old English wana, wona (adjective) and wan, won (adjective), related to wanian (“to diminish”).

wane

1. inadequate, incomplete, imperfect
2. lacking, missing, absent

• wan, wanne, wone, won, vane

• English: wane
• Scots: wan, wane

• “wāne, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

wane (uncountable)

1. (Northern) Alternative form of vein

wane

1. Alternative form of fain

wane

1. Alternative form of wan

wane (plural wanes)

1. (Northern, early) Alternative form of wone (“dwelling”)

wane (plural wanes)

1. (Northern) Alternative form of wone (“course”)

wane (plural wanes)

1. Alternative form of wain (“wagon”)

wane (plural wanes)

1. Alternative form of veine (“vein”)

wane (third-person singular simple present waneth, present participle wanende, wanynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle waned)

1. Alternative form of wanen

wane

1. Alternative form of whenne

wane

1. Alternative form of whenne

wane

1. Alternative form of wanne: singular simple past of winnen
2. Alternative form of wonnen: plural simple past of winnen

wane

1. Alternative form of whanne

wane

1. Alternative form of whanne