[f. WAVE v. + -ING2.] That waves.
1. Of water, the sea: That rises in waves; full of waves, billowy. Also of the shore (see quot. 1591).
1552. Huloet, Wauynge lyke water, fluctuosus.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. xi. § 8 (1912), 416. As when the Sunne shines upon a waving water.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. ii. 230. The subtill race Of roving Polypes; who (to rob more) Transform them hourly on the waving shore [Fr. l’ondeux rivage].
1717. Addison, trans. Ovid’s Met., II. Phaeton, 9. A waving sea th’ inferiour earth embrac’d.
1835. R. Nicoll, Poems (1842), 81. Noo Scotland’s cliffs sae dear to me Aneath the wavin’ waters fa’.
b. transf. of things, esp. of a crop, forest, etc.: Agitated or ruffled on the surface like the waves of the sea.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 156/2. Vestis vndans,… a wauing garment that ruffleth in going, specially when the bodye is moued or shaken.
1676. Dryden, Aurengz., I. 4. The Vale an Iron-Harvest seems to yield Of thick-sprung Lances in a waving Field.
1798. W. L. Bowles, Poems, St. Michael’s Mt., 43. Mountain, no pomp of waving woods hast thou.
1846. Dickens, Battle of Life, i. 1. The waving grass was green.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xxxi. A country rich with waving fields of grain.
† 2. Vacillating, wavering. Obs.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. viii. § 29. 493/1. Their might … depends of the wauing humors, and wils of those inferiour vassels, of whom they thinke themselues vnresistable Commaunders.
a. 1625. Ld. Brooke, Lett. to Hon. Lady, iv. Wks. (1633), 282. His hollow, and wauing minde.
3. That moves to and fro at its free end by the impulse of the wind or breeze.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. vi. 1. Aduance our wauing Colours on the Walls. Ibid. (1596), Tam. Shr., Induct. ii. 55. Euen as the wauing sedges play with winde.
1676. Dryden, Aurengz., V. 78. The waving Arms of Aureng-Zebe appear’d, Display’d with your Morat’s. Ibid. (1697), Æneis, VII. 869. With Joy they view the waving Ensigns fly.
1767. Sir W. Jones, Seven Fountains, Poems (1777), 33. The crimson streamer’s waving pride.
1829. Mrs. Hemans, Casabianca, 22. Upon his brow he felt their breath, And in his waving hair.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, v. A forest of ships’ masts, cheery with flapping sails and waving flags.
4. Undulating in form or outline.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, V. ix. 352. An azured staffe, cutte in fashion of a waving snake.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, vii. 38. The waving line, which is a line more productive of beauty than any of the former.
1810. Southey, Kehama, I. ii. The fragrant smoke … hangeth visible on high, A dark and waving canopy.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xliv. He was a fine open-faced boy, with blue eyes and waving flaxen hair.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 462. Asplenium Filix-fœmina … Frond 1–5 ft., bright green, flaccid, waving.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 553. A single waving or cyclical line results.
5. Of sound: Undulating in tone.
1876. Hiles, Catech. Organ, ix. (1878), 62. Unda Maris … a stop with two pipes, one of which is tuned a little higher than the other, producing a waving kind of tone.
b. quasi-sb. (See quot.)
1876. Hiles, Catech. Organ, iii. (1878), 21. Waving, is a lighter species of tremulant, for the more delicate stops.
6. Of wings: Moving rhythmically in flight.
1735. Somerville, Chase, I. 236. Th’ industrious Beagle twists his waving Tail.
1795. W. Blake, Song of Los, II. 34. And his shudd’ring waving wings Went enormous above the red flames.
1820. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., III. iii. 145. And it circles round, Like the soft waving wings of noonday dreams.
1896. Conan Doyle, Rodney Stone, viii. I … saw the gliding lines of windows with staring faces and waving handkerchiefs.
Hence Wavingly adv.
1750. G. Hughes, Barbados, 108. The extremities of the higher branches bend wavingly downwards.
1843. Blackw. Mag., LIII. 573. The sea below gleams wavingly.
1882. W. James, in Amer. Ann. Deaf & Dumb (1883), 108. Moving the hand wavingly across the forehead.
