[syn: decline, go down, wane]
2. become smaller;
- Example: "Interest in his novels waned"
3. decrease in phase;
- Example: "the moon is waning"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wane \Wane\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Waned; p. pr. & vb. n.
Waning.] [OE. wanien, AS. wanian, wonian, from wan, won,
deficient, wanting; akin to D. wan-, G. wahnsinn, insanity,
OHG. wan, wana-, lacking, wan?n to lessen, Icel. vanr
lacking, Goth. vans; cf. Gr. ? bereaved, Skr. ?na wanting,
inferior. ????. Cf. Want lack, and Wanton.]
[1913 Webster]
1. To be diminished; to decrease; -- contrasted with wax,
and especially applied to the illuminated part of the
moon.
[1913 Webster]
Like the moon, aye wax ye and wane.
Waning moons their settled periods keep. --Addison.
[1913 Webster]
2. To decline; to fail; to sink.
[1913 Webster]
You saw but sorrow in its waning form. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
Land and trade ever will wax and wane together.
--Sir J.
Child.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wane \Wane\, v. t.
To cause to decrease. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wane \Wane\, n.
1. The decrease of the illuminated part of the moon to the
eye of a spectator.
[1913 Webster]
2. Decline; failure; diminution; decrease; declension.
[1913 Webster]
An age in which the church is in its wane. --South.
[1913 Webster]
Though the year be on the wane. --Keble.
[1913 Webster]
3. An inequality in a board. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Forestry) The natural curvature of a log or of the edge
of a board sawed from a log.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
wane
n 1: a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number)
[syn: ebb, ebbing, wane]
v 1: grow smaller; "Interest in the project waned" [syn:
decline, go down, wane]
2: become smaller; "Interest in his novels waned" [ant: climb,
mount, rise, wax]
3: decrease in phase; "the moon is waning" [ant: full, wax]