wag

Meaning

Verb

1. To swing from side to side, as an animal's tail, or someone's head to express disagreement or disbelief.
2. (Australia, New-Zealand, UK, slang) To play truant from school.
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To go; to proceed; to move; to progress.
4. To move continually, especially in gossip; said of the tongue.
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To leave; to depart.
6. (intransitive, slang) Of the tail (lower order of the batting lineup): to score more runs than expected.

Noun

1. An oscillating movement.
2. A witty person.

Synonyms

wave

👋

shake

🫨

waggle

swing

jester

joker

wiggle

flap

wit

flourish

brandish

wigwag

sway

agitate

clown

wave about

beat

move

wobble

whirl

wield

fling

wriggle

jiggle

quiver

rock

🪨

card

flutter

play truant

arouse

buffoon

judder

stir up

shimmy

incite

quake

stroke

humorist

harlequin

gossip

gesticulate

chatter

bestir

funster

prankster

play hooky

fluctuate

bunk

beckon

playfulness

Translations

wedeln

agiter

frétiller

dimenare

remuer

agitar

schwingen

schudden

κινώ

slingeren

schlingen

schwänzen

brandire

κουνώ

brandar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/wæɡ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: waggen

Inherited from Old English: wagian

Cognate with English: way

In summary

From Middle English waggen, probably from Old English wagian (“to wag, wave, shake”) with reinforcement from Old Norse vaga (“to wag, waddle”); both from Proto-Germanic *wagōną (“to wag”). Related to English way.
The verb may be regarded as an iterative or emphatic form of 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, Danish vugge), Swedish vagga (“to rock a cradle”), vugge (“to rock a cradle”), Dutch wagen (“to move”), early modern German waggen (dialectal German wacken) to waver, totter. Compare waggle, verb