waver

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English waveren,^[2][3][4] and its source is disputed.^[5][2] Several dictionaries take it as borrowed from Old Norse vafra (“to move unsteadily, flicker”),^[6][7][8][9] and the MED and Etymonline think a Norse source probable.^[2][10] The OED argues instead that Shoreham's participle weverinde (c. 1315) shows a native word in the south at least, related to Old English wǣfre (“unsteady, restless”), with Norse perhaps contributing only in the north.^[5] Barnhart and Etymonline trace the Old English adjective to Proto-Germanic *wæbraz,^[11][10] and cognates include Middle High German waberen (“to move about”), German wabern, and vafi (“doubt”) and váfa (“to swing”) in Old Norse.^[5][11][12] The verb is a frequentative, with the suffix -er, from *wab-, the base of wave.^[5][8][10] Barnhart takes this to Proto-Indo-European *webh- (“to move back and forth”),^[11][3] and Merriam-Webster connects it with weave.^[4] Klein compares wobble.^[12] Johnson derived the verb from Old English wafian.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, to be irresolute or changeable: about 1315, in the participle weverinde in Shoreham's Poems.^[5] Barnhart gives weyveren as probably about 1280,^[11] and Etymonline dates wayveren to the mid-14th century.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The MED groups the physical senses, to swing, totter or wander, with the figurative one, to be unstable or changeable, and the OED records most of the physical senses from around 1440.^[2][5] A quotation from Kempe, went waueryng on eche syde as it had ben a dronkyn woman, shows the unsteady walk.^[2] The Promptorium Parvulorum (1440) has waueryn, yn a myry totyr, glossing Latin oscillō.^[2] Later uses are all of unsteadiness: of things that vary (1490), of the voice or eye (before 1625), of light (1660s), and of troops giving way (1831).^[5][10] Johnson (1755) gave two main senses, moving loosely to and fro, and being uncertain or inconstant.^[13] In Lincolnshire dialect the verb simply meant to wave, and in Scots it could mean to be slightly delirious.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1315 – to show doubt or indecision.^[5]
• c. 1440 – to wander, to sway or stagger, to float or flutter in the air.^[5] Barnhart has the sense of swaying probably before 1400.^[11]
• 1490 – of things, to change or vary.^[5]
• 1519 – noun, a state of vacillation.^[5][11][4] Etymonline dates the noun to about 1400.^[10]
• before 1625 – of the voice or eye, to become unsteady.^[5][10]
• 1660s – of light, to quiver or flicker.^[10]
• 1826 – noun, a flutter or trembling.^[5]
• 1831 – of troops, to become unsteady, to give way.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be irresolute; to hesitate between choices: She wavered between the two job offers.^[9][4][3]
2. To become unsteady; to falter: His voice wavered as he read the letter.^[9][3][5]
3. To change or fluctuate.^[9][4][5]
4. To move or sway back and forth: Reeds wavered in the current.^[9][3]
5. Of light, to flicker.^[9][10]

Noun

1. An act of wavering; a state of doubt or a flutter.^[9][4][7]

Word family

• waverer
• waveringly
• wavery

Related words

• wave
• weave
• wobble
• waive

Usage notes

Dictionary.com separates three verbs: to waver is to hesitate between choices, to fluctuate is to change irregularly, and to vacillate is to keep deciding and changing one's mind.^[15] The spelling waver also stands for a person or device that waves something, from wave and -er, recorded from 1835,^[4][5] and for a dialect name for a young tree left standing when a wood is felled, recorded from 1555, whose origin is obscure but may lie in waive.^[5][7][4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House