wane

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: ebbebbingdeclinego down

WordNet 3.0

Noun (1)

  1. a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number)Synonyms: ebbebbing

Verb (3)

  1. grow smaller“Interest in the project waned”Synonyms: declinego down
  2. become smaller“Interest in his novels waned”
  3. decrease in phase“the moon is waning”
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

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]
Wane \Wane\, v. t. To cause to decrease. [Obs.] --B. Jonson. [1913 Webster]
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.]

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