WANE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Wane

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/weɪn/ Listen

noun

Wane n.

The decrease of the illuminated part of the moon to the eye of a spectator.

Decline; failure; diminution; decrease; declension. "An age in which the church is in its wane." "Though the year be on the wane."

An inequality in a board. (Prov. Eng.)

(Forestry) The natural curvature of a log or of the edge of a board sawed from a log.

verb

Wane v. t. To cause to decrease. (Obs.)

Wane v. i. (past & past part. waned; pres. part. waning)

To be diminished; to decrease; contrasted with wax, and especially applied to the illuminated part of the moon. "Like the moon, aye wax ye and wane. Waning moons their settled periods keep."

To decline; to fail; to sink. "You saw but sorrow in its waning form." "Land and trade ever will wax and wane together."

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Etymology of 'Wane'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Wane" Quotes from Famous Books

... for passing the honeymoon in a balloon appears to be on the wane in this country. The reason for this may be that a majority of those who enter wedlock find they "go up" soon enough without the aid ...

— Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 6, May 7, 1870 • Various

... death-doom, blight upon her seed. "My faith is, Love will never pass away"— That song must cease, and in its stead be heard: "My faith is, that I loved you yesterday!" [As uplifted by inspiration. No, no, not thus our day of bliss shall wane, Flag drearily to west in clouds and rain;— But at high noontide, when it is most bright, Plunge sudden, like a ...

— Love's Comedy • Henrik Ibsen

... by sleeking, are so lean, That they're like Cynthia in the wane, Or breast of goose when 'tis pick'd clean, ...

— Poems (Volume II.) • Jonathan Swift

... ashes in the sun, When the feast of love is finished, and the heart is overrun; When the hungry soul is sated and the tongue at last denies Expression to the wonders that are wearing out the eyes, Then the splendor it will wane like a dream that haunts the brain, Or the swift dissolving beauty of the bow above the rain; And the summer domes of pleasure that bubble up the sky Will tumble into legends in the twinkling of an eye; But the art of man endureth, and the heart of man will glow With ...

— The Adventures of Uncle Jeremiah and Family at the Great Fair - Their Observations and Triumphs • Charles McCellan Stevens (AKA 'Quondam')

... was over, she said; there had been tableaux and charades, and broom-drills, and readings and charity concerts. Now the season was on the sentimental wane; every night the rooms were full of whist-players, and the days were occupied in quiet strolling over the hills, and excursions to Cooperstown and Cherry Valley and "points of view," and visits to the fields to see the hop-pickers at work. If there were a little ...

— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner

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