Sekirov Dictionary

waver

UK /ˈweɪvə/US /ˈweɪvəɹ/

verb 12
noun 9
forms 5

verb12

•
To swing or wave, especially in the air, wind, etc.; to flutter.
- Flowers wavered in the breeze.
•
(figurative) 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.
•
(figurative) To feel or show doubt or indecision; to be indecisive between choices; to vacillate.
- Let not that man think that he shall obtain anything from the Lord. What man? Why, he that doubteth or wavereth in his mind, about the truth of the mercy of God in Christ; […] — 1689
•
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.
- [U]nder the Roman empire, men's notions of mechanical relations became faint, wavered, and disappeared, […] — 1837
•
(figurative) 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. — 1548
•
(old-fashioned) 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, […] — 1599
•
To sway back and forth, as if about to fall; to reel, to stagger, to totter.
- Tom often heard her praying, as she wavered and trembled, and seemed about to fall down. — 1851
•
(no longer used) 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; […] — 1596
•
(no longer used) 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. — 1589
(no longer used) Followed by from: to deviate from a course; to stray, to wander.
•
(figurative, no longer used) 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. — 1621

noun9

(figurative) A state of beginning to weaken or showing signs of weakening in resolve; a falter.
(figurative) A state of feeling or showing doubt or indecision; a vacillation.
•
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. — 1826
•
One who waves their arms, or causes something to swing or wave.
- I felt encouraged by all the enthusiastic wavers in the crowd.
- The Fourth of July brings out all the flag wavers.
A tool used to make hair wavy.
A person who specializes in treating hair to make it wavy.
(dialect, old-fashioned) A sapling or other young tree left standing when other trees around it have been felled.
(historical) In full waver roller: a roller which places ink on the inking table of a printing press with a back and forth, waving motion.
(no longer used) Synonym of waverer (“one who feels or shows doubt or indecision; a vacillator”).

forms

wavered · wavering · wavereth · wavers · waverest

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