wag

See also: WAG

English

Etymology

Middle English waggen, noun wagge, feminine root of Old English waian, (Middle English noun wae) to oscillate, shake. Compare the Old English verb waġian

The verb may be regarded as an iterative or emphatic form of waian waw, verb, which is often nearly synonymous; it was used, e.g., of a loose tooth. Parallel formations from the same root are the Old Norse vagga feminine, cradle (Swedish vagga, Dutch vugge), Swedish vagga (“to rock a cradle”), early modern German waggen (dialectal German wacken) to waver, totter. Compare waggle, verb

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æɡ

Verb

wag (third-person singular simple present wags, present participle wagging, simple past and past participle wagged)

1. To swing from side to side, especially of an animal's tail
   • Shakespeare

     No discerner durst wag his tongue in censure.

   • Bible, Jer. xviii. 16

     Every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.

2. (UK, Australia, slang) To play truant from school.
   • 1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, xxii

     "My misfortunes all began in wagging, Sir; but what could I do, exceptin' wag?" "Excepting what?" said Mr. Carker. "Wag, Sir. Wagging from school." "Do you mean pretending to go there, and not going?" said Mr. Carker. "Yes, Sir, that's wagging, Sir."

   • 1901, William Sylvester Walker, In the Blood, i. 13

     They had "wagged it" from school, as they termed it, which..meant truancy in all its forms.

3. (obsolete) To be in action or motion; to move; to get along; to progress; to stir.
   • Shakespeare

     "Thus we may see," quoth he, "how the world wags."

4. (obsolete) To go; to depart.
   • Shakespeare

     I will provoke him to 't, or let him wag.

Derived terms

• (not go to school): play the wag; hop the wag; wag it

Translations

to swing from side to side

• Dutch: kwispelen (nl)
• Finnish: heiluttaa (fi), huiskuttaa (transitive); heilua (intransitive)
• French: frétiller (fr)
• German: wedeln (de)
• Japanese: 振る (ja) (furu), 揺れる (yureru)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: با دان (ba dan)

• Maori: takawheta, takawhetawheta
• Norwegian: logre (no)
• Russian: виля́ть (ru) impf (viljátʹ) (e. g. tail), маха́ть (ru) impf (maxátʹ), кача́ть (ru) impf (kačátʹ)
• Swedish: vifta (sv)

to not go to school

• Breton: ober skol al louarn
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 逃學, 逃学 (zh) (táoxué), 曠課 (zh), 旷课 (zh) (kuàngkè), 逃課, 逃课 (zh) (táokè)

• French: sécher (fr), faire l’école buissonnière (fr)

• German: schwänzen (de)
• Norwegian: skulke (no)
• Russian: прогу́ливать (ru) impf (progúlivatʹ), прогуля́ть (ru) pf (proguljátʹ)
• Swedish: skolka (sv)
• Turkish: (okulu) asmak (tr), kırmak (tr), sallamak (tr)

See also

• waggle (frequentative)
• wiggle

Noun

wag (plural wags)

1. An oscillating movement.

   The wag of my dog's tail expresses happiness.

2. A witty person.

Translations

oscillating movement

• Finnish: heilutus

• Italian: scodinzolio m
• Russian: виляние (ru) n (viljánije)

witty person

• Czech: šibal m
• Finnish: neropatti (fi)

• Russian: шутник (ru) m (šutník), остряк (ru) m (ostrják)
• Scots: linkie

See also

• skivitis

References

• The Oxford English Dictionary, (1989) <http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/login?uri=%2Fentrance.dtl> Accessed 23 Feb. 2006.
• Jonathon Green, "wag," The Cassell Dictionary of Slang, (1998) p. 1257.

Anagrams

• AWG, Gaw, gaw, GWA, WGA

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Afrikaans

Etymology 1

From Dutch wacht.

Noun

wag (plural wagte)

1. guard

Derived terms

• waghou

Etymology 2

From Dutch wachten

Verb

wag (present wag, present participle wagtende, past participle gewag)

1. to wait

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaːk/
• Rhymes: -aːk

Verb

wag

1. Imperative singular of wagen.
2. (colloquial)First-person singular present of wagen.