Forms: 1 wan(n, won(n, 3– wan, 3–4 won, 4–5 wane, wonn, 4–6 wann(e, 5 wonne. [OE. wann (wǫnn), dark, gloomy, black. Not found in any of the other Teut. languages. Its original sense appears to have been ‘dark in hue,’ with especially frequent application to things of gloomy unpleasant associations.
Relationships to WIN v. (OTeut. *winnan to strive, toil, suffer, etc.), or to WOUND sb., or WEN, present difficulties of sense development or form. Relationship to WANE etc. is possible (cf. Celtic *wanno-, OIr. fann, Welsh gwan faint, weak, feeble), but association of the two words in later (ME. and Mod E.) periods is more probable than ultimate connection.
In addition to this association the application to heavenly bodies, when obscured, or when compared to others more bright, possibly aided the general application to pale things. The application to the human face etc., when of unwholesome or unusual color (through various emotions, disease or death), also provided a possible occasion of sense-change. The senses ‘livid,’ ‘sallow,’ and ‘pale, sickly’ are often indistinguishable.]
† 1. Lacking light, or luster; dark-hued, dusky, gloomy, dark. Obs. Chiefly poet.
Beowulf, 702. Com on wanre niht scriðan sceadugenga.
a. 1000. Boeth. Metr., xi. 61. Hwæt, þa wonnan niht mona onlihteð.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 43. Ant tah is betere a briht iacinct þen a charbucle won.
a. 1300. Signs bef. Judgm., 43, in E. E. P. (1862), 8. As fair and briȝte as þou seest ham hi worþ be-com as blak as cole and be of hiwe durke and wan for man-is sin þat hi sul þole.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 303. So dang he þat dog with dynt of his wappon, Þat þe warlag was wete of his wan atter. Ibid., 6000. Mony chivalrous Achilles choppit to dethe: All his wedis were wete of þaire wan blode.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VII. 488. In the furd weill, that was bath wan and depe, Feyll off thaim fell.
c. 1480. Henryson, Cock & Fox, 62. In froist, in snaw, in wedder wan and weit.
a. 1529. Skelton, P. Sparowe, 910. With vysage wan As swarte as tan.
1591. Savile, Tacitus, Agricola, 244. The Ocean bringeth forth pearle also, not orient, but duskish and wanne.
b. esp. in conventional application in poetry to the sea (waves, etc.) or other waters.
The original significance was perh. that of ‘dark-hued,’ but the sense often approaches, or is blended with, the next.
In more recent poetry the word is probably (exc. by conscious archaism) to be understood rather as ‘grey, pale,’ but the gloomy connotation remains.
Beowulf, 1374. Þonon yðʓeblond up astiʓeð won to wolcnum.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1598. Myn is the drenchyng in the see so wan.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 492. Wery to the wane see they went alle att ones.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 4633. The storme … walt vp the wilde se vppon wan hilles.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VII. 814. Her is na gait to fle yone peple can, Bot rochis heich, and wattir depe and wan.
1501. Douglas, Pal. Hon., II. liii. Ouir waters wan, throw worthie woddis grene.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., I. 9. Quhair that tyme almost tha had all bene lost, Throw wan tydis so stark ran by the land.
a. 1780. Johnie Cock, xvii. in Child, Ballads, III. 4/1. She’d ha wet her foot ith wan water, And sprinkled it oer my brae.
1865. Swinburne, Chastelard, I. ii. 33. Do you yet mind at landing how the quay Looked like a blind wet face in waste of wind And washing of wan waves?
1865. Kingsley, Herew., xviii. Looking outside across the wan water for the sails which never came.
† c. Applied to lead, or things compared to it (in color). Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. xx. (1495), 876. Leed is whyte by kynde though it be wan wythout.
1477. Norton, Ord. Alch., v. in Ashmole (1652), 56. Colour wan as Lead.
1520. Whitinton, Vulg. (1527), 2. His lyppes be as wanne as lede.
1653. R. Sanders, Physiogn., 183. A wan leadish colour.
† 2. transf. or fig. Sad, dismal; also awful, fearful, deadly, cruel, wicked, etc. (Cf. uses of dark, gloomy.) Obs. poet.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3602. There is no worship in weping, ne in wan teres!
c. 1440. York Myst., vii. 38. Me for to were fro warkes wanne.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 407. Gratius God that hes all thing in erd, At his weilding to weill or ȝit wan werd.
† 3. Of an unhealthy, unwholesome color; livid, leaden-hued. Applied esp. to wounds, to the human face discolored by disease, and to corpses. Obs.
c. 700. Epinal Gloss., 576. Livida toxica: tha uuannan aetrinan.
c. 1375. Cursor M., 24470 (Fairf.). Þi bodi is wanne as þou ware dede.
1388. Wyclif, 1 Pet. ii. 24. And he hym silf bar oure synnes in his bodi on a tre, that we be deed to synnes, and lyue to riȝtwisnesse, bi whos wan wounde ȝe ben heelid.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xxxviii. (1495), 625. Powder of comyn wel medlyd wyth wexe dooth away wanne colour that comyth of smytynge. Ibid., XIX. xxi. 876. Wanne colour betokenyth angwysshe and passion of the herte whyche drawyth inwarde the hete of blood.
1483. Cath. Angl., 408/1. Wann…, cerulus, ceruleus, pallidus, liuidus.
15[?]. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxvi. 35. Thy sone Jhesu, with his woundis wan, Quhilk deinȝeit him for our trespass to de.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 257. And those moost beautyfull & fayre chekes, all bloo & wanne, with buffettes & beatynges.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems, xxxiii. 16. Evill lyfe, and langour but releif Off woundis wan.
1570. Levins, Manip., 20/21. Wan,… liuidus.
1615. Sylvester, trans. H. Smith’s Micro-cosm., 71. The Nobler states with Enuy wan, Without end are torne and tost.
1655. Culpepper, etc., Riverius, IX. ix. 273. If … the wan and deadly color of the Face … be restored, there is hope of Health.
4. Pallid, faded, sickly; unusually or unhealthily pale. Most frequently applied to the human face (or to things with conscious metaphor from this application).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4547. For lene he was, and wan þe face. Ibid., 24471. Þi face es wan as ros vnrede.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., vi. 28. Nihtes when y wende ant wake, for-thi myn wonges waxeth won.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. VII. 419. Thenne awakyde he wel wan and wolde haue ydronke.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 8034. All wan was the weghe for his wete teres.
c. 1450. in Retrosp. Rev. (1853), Nov., 104. On a greene hylle he sawe a tree,… Pale hyt was and wanne of blee.
1530. Palsgr., 328/2. Wanne of coloure, palle, yndeux, blesme.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 120. One … opposed Diogenes with this question, for what cause golde looked to the yie somewhat pale and wanne of coloure?
1561. T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, III. (1577), O j. In like manner where shee is somewhat fatter or leaner than reasonable sise, or wanner, or browner, to helpe it with garmentes.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 77. Theire face wan withred in hunger.
1599. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., Prol. 3. The wan bleak cheek of the numd earth.
1628. Gaule, Pract. The. (1629), 360. His Body was now cold, and wanne, stiffe, and still.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, III. 773. So thin, so ghastly meagre, and so wan, So bare of flesh, he scarce resembled Man.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. xiii. 275. The wan and meager countenances of the crew.
1800. Coleridge, Christabel, II. 621. Why is thy check so wan and wild, Sir Leoline?
1803. Scott, Cadyow Castle, xxiii. There, wan from her maternal throes, His Margaret, beautiful and mild, Sate in her bower, a pallid rose.
1829. Lytton, Devereux, II. v. The hangings were wan and colourless.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xlvii. The crowd of wan, emaciated faces.
1863. Baring-Gould, Iceland, 120. Dawn broke at last, wan and blear in the south.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 329. The thickening of the blood in cholera is sufficient to account for the fall of arterial pressure, the diminished size of the pulse,… and the wan appearance of the patient.
fig. 1742. Gray, Eton, 68. Envy wan, and faded care.
1747. Collins, Passions, 25. With woful Measures wan Despair Low sullen Sounds his Grief beguil’d.
1883. R. W. Dixon, Mano, I. viii. 23. Why failed his thoughts to pierce the wan regret Of love within that look?
b. esp. in phr. pale and wan (wan and pale).
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 551. He for wo was pale and wan.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys, St. Faith, 375. Bryht of ble He was & of colour neþir pale ne wan.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IX. xiii. 4. Thar feris fleand pail and wan haue thai sene, And thar cheif ennemy closyt in thar wallis.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., II. iii. 90. Why doth your Highnes looke so pale and wan?
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. xi. 22. As pale and wan as ashes was his looke.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXVIII. ix. II. 321. Drusus sometimes a Tribune of the Commons in Rome, dranke (as it is reported) Goats bloud, to make himselfe look pale and wan in the face.
1679. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 333. He was grown pale, wan, lean and long-visaged.
1736. Ainsworth, Eng-Lat. Dict., Blank (pale and wan), pallens, pallidus.
1812. J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, i. 675. Yea, many a visage wan and pale, Will hang at midnight o’er my tale.
1867. Miss Braddon, Rupert Godwin, i. Clara Westford’s noble face is pale and wan this sunny morning.
c. A wan smile, a faint or forced smile (as of one sick or unhappy).
1877. Mrs. Forrester, Mignon, I. 217. With a wan smile as she sees her friend’s grieved face.
1896. Conan Doyle, Exploits Gerard, v. 187. ‘But,’ he added, with a wan smile, ‘my Lenten fare is always somewhat meagre.’
d. Applied to the (light of) heavenly bodies, etc.: Faint, sickly, partially obscured. Also, of white objects, etc.: Dull, lusterless.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. xxx. I. 17. In the warres of Antonie, the Sunne continued almost a yeere long with a pale and wan colour.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., XI. i. The Moon grows wanne, and starres flie all away, Whom Lucifer locks up in wonted folds.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 412. The blasted Starrs lookt wan.
1771. Beattie, Minstr., I. xxv. Ye mildews wan.
1798. Wordsw., Night-piece, 3. The sky is overcast … Heavy and wan, all whitened by the Moon.
1861. J. Thomson, Ladies of Death, xxii. Moonless nights when stars are few and wan.
1873. W. Black, Pr. Thule, xxv. There were wan glimmerings of sunshine across the sea.
1889. Bridges, Sonn., lvii. In autumn moonlight, when the white air wan Is fragrant in the wake of summer.
† e. Of color: ? Pale, light. Obs.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 3 b. Whose interchanged greene colour resembleth almost the wan and yelow colour of Golde.
5. absol. (quasi-sb.) Wan hue, wanness. poet.
1821. Joanna Baillie, Metr. Leg., Lady G. Baillie, iv. She saw a faint glow tinge the sickly wan.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, III. 9. Melissa, tinged with wan from lack of sleep.
6. Comb.: chiefly parasynthetic, as wan-colo[u]red, -faced, visaged; also complementary and advb., with pples., as wan-looking, -silvering, -worn; rarely qualifying other adjs. descriptive of color, as wan-sallow, † -white.
1820. Wodarch, Introd. Conchol., 12. Which … seldom exhibits any other appearance than that of a livid or *wan-colored surface.
1881. ‘Rita,’ My Lady Coquette, x. It is a sorrowful, *wan-faced girl.
1913. Blackw. Mag., Aug., 281/1. Wan-faced men and towsel-haired women, the ancestors in a direct line of the militant suffragettes.
1882. ‘Ouida,’ Maremma, I. 58. Wasted and *wan-looking folks.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 443. A man of mien *Wan-sallow as the plant that feels itself Root-bitten by white lichen.
1849. Lytton, K. Arthur, V. i. *Wan-silvering through the hush, the cresset shone O’er the arch seer.
1508. Dunbar, Flyting, 101. *Wan wisaged widdefow, out of thy wit gane wyld.
c. 1530. Judic. Urines, III. xix. 61. And sume Auctours saye that *wan-whyte colour in vryn … sheweth begynnyng of digestyon.
1609. [Bp. W. Barlow], Answ. Nameless Cath., 141. To haue her painting wiped from her riueld browes and *wan-worn cheeks.
