Wane \Wane\, n.
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.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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Wane \Wane\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Waned; p. pr. & vb. n.
Waning.]
[OE. wanien, AS. wanian, wonian, from wan, won,
deficient, wanting; akin to D. wan-, G. wahnsinn, insanity,
OHG. wan, wana-, lacking, wan?n to lessen, Icel. vanr
lacking, Goth. vans; cf. Gr. ? bereaved, Skr. ?na wanting,
inferior. ????. Cf. Want lack, and Wanton.]
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.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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