Sekirov Dictionary

wane

/weɪn/

verb 6
noun 6
forms 5
phrases 1

verb6

•
To progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc.; to decline.
- You saw but sorrow in its waning form. — 1675
•
For light to dim or diminish in strength.
- The skies may hold not the splendour of sundown fast; / It wanes into twilight as dawn dies down into day. — 1894
•
For the Moon to pass through the phases of its monthly cycle where its surface is less and less visible.
- The fall of Jack, and the subsequent fall of Jill, simply represent the vanishing of one moon-spot after another, as the moon wanes. — 1866
•
Said of a time period that comes to an end.
- Fast as autumn days toward winter: yet it seems//Here that autumn wanes not, here that woods and streams — 1889
•
(no longer used) To decrease physically in size, amount, numbers or surface.
- The snow which had been for some time waning, had given way entirely under the fresh gale of the preceding night. — 1815
•
(no longer used) To cause to decrease.
- In which no lustful finger can profane him, Nor any earth with black eclipses wane him — 1610

noun6

•
A gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.
- His influence which was on the wane during the reign of Joseph II grew still less during the reign of Leopold II (1790-2). — 1913
•
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.
- Some French peasants also prefer to sow in the wane. — 1906
•
(literary) The end of a period.
- The day was in its prime, the day was in its wane, and still, uneasy in mind and body, she slept on. — 1846
•
A rounded corner caused by lack of wood, often showing bark.
- Sapwood, or even bark, may appear on the corners, or may have been cut off, resulting in wane, or missing timber. — 2002
(Scotland, slang) A child.
(Scotland, no longer used) A house or dwelling.

forms

waned · waning · wanes · waneth · wanest

Phrases with wane

on the wane
in a period of decrease or decline

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