[f. WANE v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb.
1. gen. Decrease or diminution in magnitude, importance, brilliancy, intensity, etc.
As OE. wanian (WANE v.) had the trans. sense ‘to make less’ as well as the intr. sense ‘to become less,’ the vbl. sb. had the two corresponding meanings, but (as often occurs with nouns of action) the two are often practically coincident, and cannot be distinguished with certainty.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., II. ii. (Schipper), 121. Nalæs butan micelre wonunge his weorodes [L. non sine magno exercitus sui damno].
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxvi. (John Baptist), 224. Þat tyme of þe ȝere borne wes he, quhene þat þe dais takis linthynge; & Iohne, quhen þai tak wanynge.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VIII. xl. (Tollemache MS.). This lyȝte with oute wanynge of it selfe scheweþ and schedeþ byschinynge.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. x. 22. I seeke not to waxe great by others waining [so Rowe conj.: Folio warning].
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., VI. lxx. Can … One onely blot so great a light empair, That never could he hope his waning to repair?
1884. Harper’s Mag., July, 260/1. The Gunnings’ beauty was at the waning.
† Phrase. 1583. Babington, Commandm. (1590), 429. Will not the dread of dolefull day strike such a filthy fault into the waning, and by little and little cut quite the throte of it, and make it bleede to death in vs?
† b. Damage inflicted by a person. Obs.
c. 1175. Pater Noster, 278, in Lamb. Hom., 71. Kep us from his waning, þat laþe gast.
† c. Default, shortcoming. Obs.
c. 1320. Cast. Love, 228, in Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., 361. God ne wrouhte neuer þat þing Þat out les þorw his wonyng, ffor nis no wone on him I-long.
2. Of the moon: Periodical decrease in apparent size (see WANE v. 2); the half of the lunar month in which this takes place.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 268/13. Æfre hi [sc. seo sæ & se mona] beoð ʓeferan on wæstme & on wanunge.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VIII. xvii. (1495), 326. The mone encreasyth all humours, and in her wanynge the … humours of the body ben made lesse.
14[?]. Lat.-Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 593/48. Lucubrax [sic], wonynge of monythe.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 826. To graffe and sowe in growynge of the mone, And kitte or mowe in wanyng, is to done.
1657. J. Watts, Scribe, Pharisee, etc., 87. Their light was as the light of the Moon, mingled with some spots, subject to wainings, decreases, and eclipses.
1683. Digby’s Chym. Secr., II. 198. The best time to gather the Misletoe of the Oak … is in the … Waning of the Moon.
1822. Imison, Sci. & Art, I. 437. The waning or decreasing of the moon takes place in the same manner, but in a contrary order.
fig. 1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., II. xxi. 138. He with many others helped to the waining of that half Moon, which sought to govern all the motion of our Sea.
† b. with the epithet wild: cf. WANIAND.
c. 1435. in Kingsford, Chron. London (1905), 75. In the croke off the mone went they thedirward, and in the wilde wanynge kom they homward.
† 3. Decline (of life); concluding part (of a day, or period of time). Obs.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., III. 269. Them, whom … the tendre kindnes of the Lord hath rewarded at the waining of the daye, and at the ending of their life.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 159. In the wayning of the world, wherein so many false Christs are come.
1592. Greene, Disput. Conny-catchers, Wks. (Grosart), X. 238. Beeing gotten in the wayning of my parents age, they doted on me aboue the rest [of their children].
1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav., C 2. Let mee quietly descend to the waining of my youthful daies, and tell a little of the sweating sicknes.
4. Comb.: waning-time.
a. 1639. Wotton, Life & D. Buckingham (1642), 3. There is nothing … more jealous, then a favorite, especially towards the wayning time and suspect of saciety.
1680. C. Nesse, Church Hist., 154. The moon … is the embleme of the church … as having her filling and weaning times.
