Inflected waned, waning. Forms: α. 1 wanien, 2–3 wanie-n, 3–4 wanye, 5 ? wanȝe, 4–7 wayne, 5 wan, 6–7 waine, 6–9 wain, 7 wean, 3– wane. β. 1 wonian, 3–4 wone. Also with prefix, 1 ȝe-, 2–4 i-. [OE. wanian (wǫnian) wk. vb. to lessen (trans. and intr.) = OFris. wonia, MDu. waenen, wanen, OS. wanon, OHG. wanôn, wanên (MHG. wanen), intr., ON. vana trans., vana-sk to grow less (Norw. vana to spoil, waste), Goth. *wanan (cf. wanains loss, ἤττημα, Rom. xi. 12):—OTeut. *wanōjan, *wanǣian, f. *wano- lacking, WANE a.]
I. intr. To grow less, decrease. (Opposed to wax.)
1. To decrease in size or extent; to dwindle. Now rare. † Also with pleonastic complement, to wane less, too little.
Beowulf, 1607. Þa þæt sweord ongan æfter heaþoswate hildeʓicelum, wiʓbil wanian.
c. 1290. St. Brendan, 342, in S. Eng. Leg., 229. Ich wondri houȝ þis taperes bernez þus: and ne waniez nouȝt.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 4772. Þis was a wondirfull werk … þat þai [two trees] suld wax soo & wane within a wale time.
14[?]. 26 Pol. Poems, xix. 44. Þy vices waxen moo, And þy vertues wanen lesse.
1584–7. Greene, Card of Fancie (1593), O 4 b. The tree forthwith waineth and withereth.
1647. Fuller, Good Th. in Worse T., III. ix. 141. [A disease] Wherein the Head waxeth too great, whil’st the Legges and lower parts waine too Little.
1837. Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857), I. 228. Fruits and animals wax and wane.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 444. That which grows is said to wax, and that which decays to wane.
1896. Black Horse Gaz., Jan., 8/2. When the width of an Empire may wax and enlarge Or shrivel and wane with the fate of a charge.
† b. To decrease in number. Obs.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 982. Þat hii hom ssolde vnder stonde & lene hom wimmen þat hii miȝte hor ospring eche so. Vor þing þat woneþ & noþing wexþ sone it worþ ido.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 1645. Now haue y lost kyng Moradas … And othre kynges manye … Now my folkes doþ þus wanye, y-lost ys myn honour.
† c. To grow less in quantity or volume. Of the sea, water: To subside, ebb. Obs.
c. 1290. St. Laurence, 84, in S. Eng. Leg., 342. Þis tresour … ne schal neuere wanie, ake euere wexe faste.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 496. How þat watterez wern woned & þe worlde dryed.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. xviii. (Tollemache MS.). Physiciens telleþ þat blood waneþ by age [L. sanguinem minui per ætatem]. Ibid., XIII. xxiii. Whan þe mone is in þe lower corse water begynneþ to wanye.
c. 1440. York Myst., ix. 204. It [sc. the flood] is wanand, þis wate I wele.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 76. The mannis harnis is full in the full mone and at the full see, and wanis as the see.
c. 1710. Celia Fiennes, Diary (1888), 160. This great water seemes to flow and wane with ye wind but it does not Ebb and flow Like the sea with the tyde.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xl. The snow, which had been for some time waning, had given way entirely under the fresh gale of the preceding night. The more distant hills, indeed, retained their snowy mantle, but all the open country was cleared.
2. Of the moon: To undergo the periodical decrease in the extent of its visible illuminated portion, characteristic of the second half of the lunation.
971. Blickl. Hom., 17. Þonne se mona wanað, þonne tacnað he ure deaþlicnesse.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 166. Þe mone waxeð & woneð, & nis neuer studeuest.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 2077. And vndernethe hir feet she hadde a moone, Wexyng it was, and sholde wanye soone.
c. 1440. Astron. Cal. (MS. Ashm. 391). Wtyn it is an hoole which shewt by similitude how þe moone wexeþ and wanȝeþ [? read wanzeþ: see WANZE v. 2].
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., I. i. 4. But oh, methinkes, how slow This old Moon wanes.
1601. Song of Mary, in Farr, S. P. Eliz. (1845), II. 428. Her sunne doth neuer clipse nor cloude; Her moone doth neuer wax nor wane.
1762. J. Kennedy, Compl. Syst. Astron. Chron., 728. The validity of the sacred writings never can be denied, while the moon shall encrease and wane.
1868. Lockyer, Elem. Astron., § 232. From New Moon the illuminated portion of our satellite waxes, or increases in size, till Full Moon, and then wanes, or diminishes, to the next New Moon.
3. Of light, color, luminous or colored objects: To decrease in brilliance or splendor; to become faint or dim. Also (nonce-uses) with pleonastic complement, to wane faint, grey.
c. 1000. Rule of Chrodegang, xix. Æfter þissum tidum sona cymð se æfensang … & þæs dæʓes leoht þonne eac wanoð.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1107. Maneʓe sædon þet hi on þam monan … mistlice tacna ʓesawon, & onʓean cynde his leoman wexende & waniende.
1832. Tennyson, Lady of Shalott, iv. The pale yellow woods were waning.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. V. vi. It has waned faint and again waxed bright.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, x. The light waned without, it grew dusk, became quite dark.
1850. Kingsley, A. Locke, xxxiii. The candles waned grey, and the great light streamed in through every crack and cranny.
1888. Meredith, Reading of Earth, etc., 118. Remote they [sc. the stars] wane to gaze intense.
fig. 1843. Lytton, Last Bar., I. i. The royal tournaments which were however waning from their ancient lustre.
1874. Green, Short Hist., vii. § 8. 445. The old splendour of her Court waned and disappeared.
4. Of a person, nation, institution: To decline in power, importance, prosperity or renown.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., John iii. 30. Hit ʓebyraþ þæt he weaxe, and þæt ic waniʓe.
c. 1205. Lay., 26991. Þat heore uolc gon waxen and Bruttes gunnen wonien.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 924. Iurselem was struid an[tan] þan can þair kingrik for to wan.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 1255. Þey wil waxe & we schal wanye.
a. 1628. Ld. Brooke (F. Greville), Hum. Learn., lxviii. And as by artlesse Guides, States euer waine: So doe they where these vselesse dreamers reigne.
a. 1633. T. Taylor, God’s Judgem., I. I. xvi. (1642), 51. This was the first shake that ever this kingdome received … whereby it began to waine and decline.
1678. Dryden, All for Love, III. 31. Ven. I’m waining in his favor, yet I love him.
1690. Child, Disc. Trade, Pref. (B 2) b. The inseparable affinity that is … at all times between Land and Trade, which are Twins, and have always, and ever will wax and wane together.
1850. McCosh, Div. Govt., I. ii. (1874), 51. When Popery was waning in France, in the days of Louis XIV.
1860. Hawthorne, Transform., xxxii. A people are waning to decay and ruin.
1868. Peard, Water-farm., i. 7. Pisciculture began to wane.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 122. Plato … had seen the Athenian empire … wax and wane.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., V. xxiv. 489. The ban took effect, because the institution was already waning.
b. To decline in vigor, to age. rare.
1821. Galt, Ann. Parish, xxix. 252. Even Miss Sabrina Hookie,… though now waned from her meridian,… set herself to learn and to teach tambouring.
1899. J. Milne, Romance of Pro-consul, xix. 208. Sir George Grey, as he waned under the growing load, realised that he and Greater Britain would be no more together.
5. Of qualities, conditions, activities, feelings, power, etc.: To become gradually less in degree, to decline in intensity, abate.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 8488. Þat wiþinne was sorwe inou hor poer wanede vaste.
c. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, Prol. All gladnes & delite of erth wanys & at þe last wytes til noght.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 3. And so my witte wex and wanyed til I a fole were.
c. 1480. Henryson, Age & Youth, 46. Thy wittis fyve sall wane, thocht thow nocht wald.
1599. Hayward, 1st Pt. Life Hen. IV., 140. Whilest the one Kings power was waining, and the other not yet fullye wexen.
1649. C. Wase, Sophocles, Electra, 10. Nor waynes my grief, but still encreases more.
1655. Gurnall, Chr. in Armour, verse 12. x. § 2 (1656), 290. But let it [sc. our obedience] seem to wain in any service or duty, then the Jordan of our faith flies back.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., I. 217. How wanes my borrow’d bliss!
1825. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. Wedding. The infinity of full satisfaction … began to wane into something of misgiving.
1833. Chalmers, Const. Man (1835), I. i. 92. This sense of a universal law … never waned into total extinction among the tribes of ferocious and untamed wanderers.
1878. Lecky, Eng. in 18th C., I. i. 161. The influence which his good private character … once gave him had been rapidly waning.
1903. Mary L. Bruce, Anna Swanwick, v. 184. The precious hours passed, and the still more precious physical strength waned.
1909. E. H. Burton, Bp. Challoner, xxxiv. II. 270. Gradually his enthusiasm for the Protestant cause waned.
6. Of a period of time: To draw to its close.
Usually with some notion of sense 3 or 5.
1590. in Segar, Honor Milit. & Civ. (1602), 198. But spurnd in vaine, youth waineth by encreasing.
1766. Goldsm., Vicar W., xxii. As I walked but slowly, the night waned apace.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, X. 186. But soon the night wain’d on, And the loud trumpets’ blare from broken sleep Roused them.
1851. Mantell, Petrifactions, iv. § 5. 405. A solitary genus of Australia … whose term of existence seems fast waning to its close.
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxxvi. The day waned into a gloomy evening, overcast and sad.
1865. Miss Braddon, Sir Jasper’s Tenant, iii. The summer waned slowly, very slowly for that quiet dweller in Scarsdale Hermitage.
1903. ‘S. G. Tallentyre,’ Voltaire, vii. (1905), 80. The year waned in such studies.
II. trans. To cause to decrease.
† 7. To lessen, diminish, abridge (a privilege, right, etc.). Obs.
a. 889. Charter of Alfred, in Sweet, O. E. Texts, 452. Ond swa hwylc mon swa hio wonie & breoce, ʓewonie him god almahtiʓ his weorldare ond ea[c] swa his sawle are.
a. 1000. Riddles, xx[i]. 33. Oft ic wirum dol wife abelʓe, wonie hyre willan.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 177. Þe oreguil and þe wraððe of kinges and of barones … wurreð uppe chirches oðer wanieð hire rihtes.
c. 1470. Golagros & Gaw., 1208. I aught as prynce him to prise for his prouese, That wanyt noght my wourschip, as he that al wan.
a. 1628. Ld. Brooke (F. Grevil), Hum. Learn., cxviii. And of these Arts it may be said againe, That since their Theoricke is infinite; Of infinite there can no Artes remaine…. Their Theoricke then must not waine their vse.
† 8. To empty, render vacant. Obs.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 33. Ðos word sede þe angel for þat man sholde fuluullen englene sete þe was er iwaned þo þe lucifer and his ferreden fellen ut þarof.
† 9. To come short of, lack. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4291. Quen hert has þat it will wiss Þe bodi mai haue namar bliss, Ne namar wa þan will to wan. Ibid., 12196. Bot þai are … Als a chim or brasin bell, Þat noþer can vnderstand ne tell Wat takens þair aun sune, Þat witt bath wanis and resune.
10. To wane away: to cause to wane away, to diminish gradually. Also refl. of the moon (nonce-use), to wane away.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXIV. xv. II. 198. Speciall remedie for ruptures, convulsions, and pleurisies: it waneth away the overgrowne splene.
1797. Anna Seward, Lett. (1811), V. 4. Proud once and princely was the mansion, ere a succession of spendthrifts waned away its splendour.
1867. Jean Ingelow, Tired, iv. And let that moon of April wane itself away.
b. nonce-use. To cause (the moon) to wane.
1904. Edin. Rev., Jan., 46. The hidden hand which wanes the moon and ebbs the tide.
