Obs. Forms: 1 wana, wona (also wan, won), 2–3, 5 wone, 3–4 won, 4–5 woon, 2–7 wane, 5 vane, 4–6 (9 dial.) wan. [OE. wana, wǫna, usually indeclinable, rarely weak (also wan, wǫn, str. adj.) = OS., MLG., MDu., Flemish wan, ON. van-r (cf. WANT sb. and WAN-), Goth. wan-s:—OTeut. *wano-, prob. f. Indogermanic root *wă- as in L. vānus VAIN a.]
1. Lacking, absent, deficient.
c. 825. Vesp. Ps. xxii[i]. 1. Nowiht me wonu bið [Vulg. nihil mihi deerit].
971. Blickl. Hom., 131. Ærþon þe he [sc. Drihten] on heofenas astiʓe, þonon he næfre won wæs þurh his god-cundnesse miht.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xix. 20. Eall þis ic ʓeheold; hwæt is me ʓyt wana?
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 75. Þe Mon þet haueð þis ilke fif þing mid him he is leful Mon, and, if him is eni þer of wane, he nis nawiht alse leful alse him bi-houede.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 26. Nis no god wone [v.r. wane] þer ase þreos þreo beoð, mihte & wisdom & luue iveied togederes.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3353. Tidlike hem was ðat water wane.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 20056. Qua hertili hers or redis hit Of ur leuedi and sant iohn Þair beniscun þan bes not wan [Gött., Trin. won]. Ibid., 22846. For al welth sal þam be wan [Gött., Fairf. wane, Trin. wone].
a. 1325. Maudelain, 299, Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 299. When it no milk gete miȝt, Þe fader … seyd, ‘allas, hir fode is wane.’
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 8329. Let now no god wille be wane, Bot help to venge my fader bane!
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 493. For he ȝerned ȝelpyng to here, Thaȝ hym wordez were wane, when þay to sete wenten.
1389. in Engl. Gilds (1870), 30. And qwo-so be wane, schal paye a pound of wax.
c. 1400. 26 Pol. Poems, ii. 61. Me thenkeþ þere wit is wane To stroiȝe the hony.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 515/1. Wane, or wantynge, absens, deessens.
c. 1475. Mankind, 412, in Macro Plays, 16. He [Mercy] hath taught Mankynde, wyll I [Myscheff] haue be vane, To fyght manly a-geyn hys fon.
c. 1522. Skelton, Why nat to Courte?, 917. Ye must weare bukram, Or canuas of Cane, For sylkes are wane.
2. Destitute of.
a. 800. Christ, 270. Þæt we tires wone a butan ende sculon ermþu dreoʓan.
971. Blickl. Hom., 17. He bið wana þæs ecan leohtes.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 73. He nis noht fulliche cristene mon þet is awiht wone of þisse þreo þing.
c. 1430. Christ’s own Complaint, 427, in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 217. Alle bestes … In kindeli worchinge ben durable Saaf oonly I, of wittis wan.
3. With numerals, etc.: Short of. Used to express numbers (one or two) less than a complete decade.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xxiv. (Schipper), 311. Oþ þæt hyræ daʓa rim ʓefylled wæs, þæt is anes ʓeares wana [v.rr. won(a) þe] syxtiʓra wintra.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 972. He wæs þa ana wana .xxx. wintra.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 67. A meiden swiðe ȝung of ȝeres twa wone of twenti.
13[?]. Evang. Nicod., 419, in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr., LIII. 399. Ane wane of fourty strakes with yherd he sall be smyten.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet (prose), 22. Þe gude herde, þat lefte in þe munte ane wane of a hundrez sep and yede at seke þis ane þt was want.
a. 1500. in Bernardus de Cura, etc. 32. Be the yheris of cryst comyn and gone, Fully nynty ande nyne, nocht one wone.
4. Incomplete; not fully formed, or properly shaped. Of the moon: Not full.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 76. Quhen it [the moon] is full, all thingis … ar mare forssy … na quhen it is wane.
1508. Dunbar, Flyting, 195. Wan wraiglane wasp.
1825. Jamieson, A wan tree, is a tree that has not ‘grown in a circular form,’ or that is not filled up on one side…. Berwicks.
5. Insufficient, (too) small. rare.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3046. Hir nose for the nonest was nobly shapyn,… Nawther to wyde ne to wan, but as hom well semyt.
1634. in Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1878), III. 164. [They] buye thair staiple guids quhen the samin does come to the staiple port at ane wane mercatt.
