wane Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number)
    ebbing; ebb.
  2. verb grow smaller
    decline; go down.
    • Interest in the project waned
  3. verb become smaller
    • Interest in his novels waned
  4. verb decrease in phase
    • the moon is waning

WordNet

Wane intransitive verb
Etymology
OE. wanien, AS. wanian, wonian, from wan, won, deficient, wanting; akin to D. wan-, G. wahnsinn, insanity, OHG. wan, wana-, lacking, wann to lessen, Icel. vanr lacking, Goth. vans; cf. Gr. bereaved, Skr. na wanting, inferior. . Cf. Want lack, and Wanton.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Waned ; present participle & verbal noun Waning
Definitions
  1. To be diminished; to decrease; -- contrasted with wax, and especially applied to the illuminated part of the moon.
    Like the moon, aye wax ye and wane. Waning moons their settled periods keep. Addison.
  2. To decline; to fail; to sink.
    You saw but sorrow in its waning form. Dryden.
    Land and trade ever will wax and wane together. Sir J. Child.
Wane transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To cause to decrease. Obs. B. Jonson.
Wane noun
Definitions
  1. The decrease of the illuminated part of the moon to the eye of a spectator.
  2. Decline; failure; diminution; decrease; declension.
    An age in which the church is in its wane. South.
    Though the year be on the wane. Keble.
  3. An inequality in a board. Prov. Eng. Halliwell.

Webster 1913