Also 4 wever, 4–5 Sc. wayver, wafer, 4–6 Sc. vaver, 4–7 Sc. wawer, 5 wavere, wavur, wafyr, 6 wavor, Sc. vaifer, 7 wavour. [ME. waver, wever = MHG. waberên, mod.G. (now dial.) wabern, webern to move about, ON. vafra to move unsteadily, flicker (cf. vafrloge flickering flame), Norw. vavra to go to and fro, stagger; a frequentative f. Teut. root *wað-: see WAVE v.
Shoreham’s weverinde (c. 1315, sense 5) shows that the word in the south at least is native English (cf. OE. wæfre unsteady, also nimble); it is possible that in the north the word may partly represent an adoption of ON. vafra, but the supposition is not necessary.]
I. Intransitive.
† 1. To go about or travel at random or without fixed destination; to wander, rove. Also with adv., as about. Obs.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VII. 41. The sleuth-hund maid stynting thar, And vaueryt [v.r. waweryt] lang tyme to and fra.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxv. (Julian), 287. Waferand fra place to place.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 490. Þai waxed so pure at þai wavurd aboute here & þer.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IV. 283. He saw mony rout Off wyld bestis wauerand in wode and playne.
1483. Cath. Angl., 411/1. To Wavere About (v.r. Wafyr Abowt), vagari.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. v. 70. Quha ar vnbereit a hundreth ȝeir man byde, Wauerand and wandrand by this bankis syde.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, C 1. There were two Channels … where through the fishermen did wander and wauer vp to Norwitch and diuers parts of Suffolke and Norfolke.
† b. To stray from. Obs.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Bk. Knighthood, Wks. (S.T.S.), II. 6. He slepit apon his palfray, and waverit fra his folk out of the hye way.
1599. Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1848), II. 204. The said Thomas hes bene accusit of … wavering oftentymes fra his wyff, bairnis, and famelie.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., Quon. Attach., x. 78. Gif … he … sall sweare that, that beast did waver away from him.
2. To sway to and fro, as if in danger of falling; to reel, stagger, totter. Now rare (cf. 5 d, 7).
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 8266. All in wer for to walt, wayueronde he sote.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 447/2. Schoggyn, schakyn, or waveryn, vacillo.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, liii. 10. Bot ay his ane futt did wawer, He stackerit lyk ane strummall awer.
1531. Elyot, Gov., I. xi. (1883), I. 95. Oza, for puttyng his hande to the holy shryne that was called Archa federis,… though it were wauerynge and in daunger to fall, yet was he stryken of god.
1691. Ray, Creation, I. (1692), 142. When they [sc. the Fins] are cut off, it [sc. the Body of the Fish] wavers to and fro.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxxiii. 298. She was evidently in a condition of great suffering, and Tom often heard her praying, as she wavered and trembled, and seemed about to fall down.
3. To swing or wave in the air; to float or flutter.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 518/2. Wawyn, or waueryn, yn a myry totyr, oscillo.
c. 1514. Barclay, Eclogue, iii. Sometime must thou stoupe unto a rude vilayne Calling him master,… Although thou would see him waver in a bande.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Matt. viii. 18–22. The byrdes fleyng and wauoring in the ayer.
1574. T. Hill, Art Garden., Weather, viii. 72. The kytes playing and wauering about in the aire.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, III. xv. 136. Two Lions came running with their shaggy lockes wauering about their shoulders.
1726–30. Thomson, Winter, 230. Thro’ the hush’d air the whitening shower descends, At first thin-wavering.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., vii. He could discern a figure wavering and struggling as it hung suspended above the heads of the multitude.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, VI. 64. On their curls From the high tree the blossom wavering fell.
1864. Skeat, trans. Uhland’s Poems, 252. Lo! down waver clustering ringlets Round a soft and gentle face!
1883. Chamb. Jrnl., 689. Huge butterflies wavered about the cactus plants.
b. Phr. To waver with or in the wind. ? Obs.
c. 1500. Nut-brown Maid, 74, in Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 200. Wythout pytee, hanged to bee, and wauer wt the wynde.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cccxxxiii. 522. With baners and penons waueryng with the wynde.
1526. Tindale, Matt. xi. 7. A rede waveringe with the wynde.
1582. N. Lichefield, trans. Castanheda’s Conq. E. Ind., I. lxxviii. 158. After this, hee went up and downe, wauering in the winde, tarryeng for the rest of the shippes.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XXII. 508. Soon fled the soul impure, and left behind The empty corse to waver with the wind.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xl. Here many an outlaw … had wavered in the wind during the wars.
1828. Miss Mitford, Village, Country Barber, III. 165. A lank, long, stooping figure, which seemed wavering in the wind like a powder-puff.
c. transf.
1860. Hawthorne, Transform., xxix. Now tumbling down, down, down, with a long shriek wavering after him, all the way.
1876. Morris, Sigurd, II. 141. The wind in his raiment wavered.
† 4. Of water, waves: To surge. Obs. rare.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., IV. 1963. As rewaris reythe for rayn wil rysse And wauer mare wiþe wawis woide Þan wil a kyndly standande flude.
5. Of persons, their sentiments, etc.: To exhibit doubt or indecision; to change or vary; to fluctuate or vacillate (between); to falter in resolution or allegiance; to show signs of giving way.
c. 1315. Shoreham, Poems, I. 424. And þi bi-leaue of ihesu crist His nou al weuerinde.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XII. 185. Mony ane hert sal vaverand [v.r. wawerand] be That semyt ere of gret bounte.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 2901. And thus I stood al in a rage With look cast fix in hir visage, Wavering as in a were.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., V. 4318. He was curyousse in his stille,… Mad in metyr meit his dyte, Litil or noucht neuir þe lesse Wauerande fra þe suythtfastnes.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 18/2. Waueron yn hert for vnstabylnesse, muto.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., xxv. 97. Þat he sette fully his hope in god, and not be dul in the feithe, ne wauere in the comavndementes of god.
1526. Tindale, Jas. i. 6. But let hym axe in faythe and waver not [1611 nothing wauering].
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 223 b. That we his yongest chylden … sholde not … wauer in our fayth.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Matt. i. 20, 21. Why art thou vexed? why doest thou wauer in & out?
1579. Shaks., Lover’s Compl., 97. And nice affections wauering stood in doubt If best were as it was, or best without.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 43. They that wavered betweene warre and peace.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., I. vii. 28. Vertue that wavers is not vertue.
1714. Addison, Spect., No. 585, ¶ 8. Her Mind continued wavering about twenty Years longer between Shalum and Mishpach.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., v. I. 603. While he was thus wavering between projects equally hopeless.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), I. iv. 355. The allegiance even of the bishops and the secular clergy to Rome had begun to waver.
1874. Green, Short Hist., iv. § 2. 172. Only on one occasion … did the burgesses waver from their general support of the Crown.
1883. Froude, Short Stud., IV. I. xi. 131. Many people had begun to waver in their allegiance.
1884. M. Creighton, Hist. Ess., viii. (1902), 239. For a time opinions wavered which boundary to choose.
† b. Phr. To waver as, like, with the wind. Cf. 3 b.
c. 1480. Henryson, Fox, Wolf & Cadger, 218 (Harl.). With that þe cadger, wauering as the wind, Come rydand on the laid.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. V., 13. Not common people onely, which wauer with the wynde, but wyse menne also.
1565. B. Googe, trans. Palingenius’ Zodiac, VII. A a vj b. And so corrupt the mindes Of rude vnskilfull common sort, that wauer lyke the wyndes.
a. 1825. Child Noryce, i., in Child, Ballads, II. 266. Child Noryce is a clever young man, He wavers wi the wind.
† c. To hesitate to (do something). Obs. rare.
1644. Milton, Divorce, II. xv. 61. I shall not much waver to affirm, that [etc.].
d. Of a combatant, body of troops, line of battle: To become unsteady, flinch, give way.
1831. G. P. R. James, Phil. Augustus, xlii. He wavered not a step; but, still striding over the body of the king,… maintained his ground.
1860. Froude, Hist. Eng., V. xxvi. 213. The sustained fire of the Lanzknechts threw their dense and unorganized masses into rapid confusion. As they wavered, Warwick’s horse were in the midst of them.
1915. J. Buchan, Hist. War, IV. xxvi. 75. The line wavered and broke.
6. Of things (or a person as an unconscious agent): To change, vary, fluctuate.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, 2. We englysshe men ben borne vnder the domnynacyon of the mone, whiche is neuer stedfaste, but euer wauerynge.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 116. Thus the Englishe affaires … within the realme began to wauer, and waxe variable.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 91 b. To suffer this gere to hange waueringe [L. ut rem ita fluctuare sinat].
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Nuto, Victorie wauereth or flitteth betweene both vncertaynly.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xxxviii. During the whole space of time just mentioned, Mr. Benjamin Allen had been wavering between intoxication partial and intoxication complete.
1859. Dickens, etc., Haunted Ho., iii. 14/1. He had … a waistcoat that wavered in hue between a sunny buff and a stony drab.
1922. Lord Raglan, in 19th Cent., April, 681. Among all Arabs succession is hereditary, but it wavers between the eldest son and the eldest male member of the family.
7. Of the voice, the eye, etc. (or a person with reference to these): To become unsteady; to shake, tremble, falter (through emotion or bodily weakness). † Of the wits: To become confused, reel.
1621. Fletcher, Pilgr., III. iii. Keep my wits Heaven, I feel ’em wavering, O God my head.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xlv. ‘No,’ replied the old man, wavering in his voice, no less than in his manner.
1850. Susan Warner, Wide World, xv. Miss Fortune’s conscience must have troubled her a little, for her eye wavered uneasily.
1876. Miss Broughton, Joan, I. I. ix. 189. Her voice wavers and breaks. The tears crowd up into her eyes.
1883. A. K. Green, X. Y. Z., iv. 65. His eye did not waver from its steady solemn look toward the door.
1886. Kipling, Departm. Ditties, etc. (1888), 45. The white hands wavered—the bright head drooped.
8. Of light, shade, objects seen unsteadily or through a haze: To flicker, quiver.
1664. Boyle, Exper. Colours, III. xiv. 227. I took … two Triangular Glasses, and one of them being kept fixt in the same Posture, that the Iris it projected on the Floor might not Waver.
1842. Tennyson, Gardener’s Dau., 129. The shadow of the flowers … wavering Lovingly lower, trembled on her waist … and still went wavering down. Ibid. (1842), Will Waterproof, 38. The gas-light wavers dimmer.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, xvii. (1856), 173. Tall palms and cocoas—their stems wavering in the thin haze.
1914. Edmund Vale, in Blackw. Mag., Oct., 491/2. A little gleam wavered ahead on my right.
fig. 1837. Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sci., IV. i. I. 247. It may serve to illustrate … the extent to which, under the Roman empire, men’s notions of mechanical relations became faint, wavered, and disappeared, if we observe the change which took place in architecture.
II. Transitive.
† 9. causal. To cause to waver; to wave to and fro; to set in waving or fluttering motion; to render unsteady or unsteadfast. Obs.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., III. 798. Þus in seige a sote to se, Or do a dowde in dignyte, Sal ger standande statis stauer, And wil bathe wit and worschep wauer.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 518/2. Waueron, or mevyn or steryn, agito.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 227. Nocht gaynstandand that he be wauerit [printed wanerit] in his wit.
1561. in Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), III. 148. Seeing he … showed himself so constant in religion, that neither the fear of his souereign’s indignation could wauer him, nor great promises win him.
1583. in Hakluyt, Voy. (1589), 683. Item, if the Admirall shall happen to hull in the night: then to make a wauering light ouer his other light, wauering the light vpon a pole.
1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav., E 2 b. A third wauerd and wagled his head, like a proud horse playing with his bridle.
1812. Courier, in Examiner, 23 Aug., 540/1. Shot, shells, grape, and musketry, could not unsteady the step, or waver the line of the British infantry.
† 10. To vacillate under, falter in resistance to Obs. rare–1.
1596. Drayton, Mortimer., B 4 b. Th’vnconstant Barrons, wauering euery houre, The fierce encounter of this raging tyde.
