WANE

ebb, ebbing, wane

(noun) a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number)

decline, go down, wane

(verb) grow smaller; “Interest in the project waned”

wane

(verb) decrease in phase; “the moon is waning”

wane

(verb) become smaller; “Interest in his novels waned”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

A gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.

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.

(literary) The end of a period.

(woodworking) A rounded corner caused by lack of wood, often showing bark.

Usage notes

• When referring to the moon or a time period, the word is found mostly in prepositional phrases like in or on the wane.

Synonyms

• (a diminution in power, value, etc.): decrease, decline

Verb

wane (third-person singular simple present wanes, present participle waning, simple past and past participle waned)

(intransitive) To progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc.; to decline.

(intransitive) Said of light that dims or diminishes in strength.

(intransitive, astronomy) Said of the Moon as it passes through the phases of its monthly cycle where its surface is less and less visible.

(intransitive) Said of a time period that comes to an end.

(intransitive, archaic) To decrease physically in size, amount, numbers or surface.

(transitive, obsolete) To cause to decrease.

Antonyms

• wax

Etymology 2

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

(Scotland, slang) A child.

Etymology 3

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

(chiefly, Northern England and Scotland, obsolete) A house or dwelling.

Anagrams

• Ewan, Newa, anew, wean

Source: Wiktionary

Wane, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Waned; p. pr. & vb. n. Waning.] Etym: [OE. wanien, AS. wanian, wonian, from wan, won, deficient, wanting; akin to D. wan-, G. wahnsinn, insanity, OHG. wan, wana-, lacking, wan to lessen, Icel. vanr lacking, Goth. vans; cf. Gr. wanting, inferior. Want lack, and Wanton.]

1. 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. Addison.

2. To decline; to fail; to sink. You saw but sorrow in its waning form. Dryden. Land and trade ever will wax and wane together. Sir J. Child.

Wane, v. t.

Definition: To cause to decrease. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Wane, n.

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

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

3. An inequality in a board. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition