Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To move briskly and repeatedly from side to side, to and fro, or up and down.
- intransitive verb To move rapidly in talking. Used of the tongue.
- intransitive verb Archaic To be on one's way; depart.
- intransitive verb To move (a body part) rapidly from side to side or up and down, as in playfulness, agreement, or admonition.
- noun The act or motion of wagging.
- noun A humorous or droll person; a wit.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of wagging; a shake; an oscillation.
- noun One who is given to joking or jesting; a witty or humorous person; one full of sport and humor; a droll fellow.
- noun A fellow: used with a shade of meaning sometimes slurring, sometimes affectionate, but without any attribution of humor or pleasantry.
- To cause to move up and down, backward and forward, or from side to side, alternately, as a small body jointed or attached to, or connected with, a larger one; cause to move one way or another, as on a pivot or joint, or on or from something by which the body moved is supported; cause to shake, oscillate, or vibrate slightly.
- To nudge.
- To move backward and forward, up and down, or from side to side, alternately, as if connected with a larger body by a joint. pivot, or any flexible or loose attachment; oscillate; sway or swing; vibrate: an arrow is said to wag when it vibrates in the air.
- To be in motion or action; make progress; continue a course or career; stir.
- To move on or away; be off; depart; pack off; be gone.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To move one way and the other with quick turns; to shake to and fro; to move vibratingly; to cause to vibrate, as a part of the body.
- noun colloq. The act of wagging; a shake.
- noun A man full of sport and humor; a ludicrous fellow; a humorist; a wit; a joker.
- intransitive verb To move one way and the other; to be shaken to and fro; to vibrate.
- intransitive verb colloq. To be in action or motion; to move; to get along; to progress; to stir.
- intransitive verb rare To go; to depart; to pack oft.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
swing from side to side, especially of ananimal 'stail - verb slang To not go to school, either for a class or classes or the entire school day.
- noun An
oscillating movement. - noun A
witty person.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun causing to move repeatedly from side to side
- verb move from side to side
- noun a witty amusing person who makes jokes
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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At the moment, therefore, the description of "CAP of the sky" attributed by an anonymous wag, is looking to be all too appropriate.
The CAP of the sky? Richard 2006
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Diehard Conservatives in the US may have loved him, but he gave new meaning to the terms wag the dog and political spin doctoring.
The Aurora: News 2009
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Perhaps Selwyn might have been called a "wag" -- a name given to men who were more enterprising than successful in their humour, and which referred originally to mere ludicrous motion.
History of English Humour, Vol. 2 (of 2) Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange 1873
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Your characters and my characters would get along find should they ever cross paths – they’d just be able to sit and chin wag!
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One, who can only be described as a wag, attempted to do so by defining each word as follows:
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"Telephone for Boston Bean," called the wag of an office boy.
Bunker Bean Harry Leon Wilson 1903
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"I find I'm mistaken," called the wag, down the table.
Uncle Sam's Boys in the Ranks or, Two Recruits in the United States Army 1895
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Hi Tom, I never knew if the wag was the school board man or the school! just knew if I skipped school without Mum knowing and she alway, always found out, call it Mothers sixth sense .. even before I confessed and had to ask for a note for the teacher because in the old days as well we all know it had to be supplied first day back at school ... if pushed Mum would write down 'I poor suffering child had another bilious attack' which went down reasonably well with the teacher until she asked me what it was ...
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Hi Tom, I never knew if the wag was the school board man or the school! just knew if I skipped school without Mum knowing and she alway, always found out, call it Mothers sixth sense .. even before I confessed and had to ask for a note for the teacher because in the old days as well we all know it had to be supplied first day back at school ... if pushed Mum would write down 'I poor suffering child had another bilious attack' which went down reasonably well with the teacher until she asked me what it was ...
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Gen. Larry Nicholson flew in for a commanders 'meeting at Camp Delhi today, he was asked to bring with him a fresh supply of plastic "wag" bags that Marines use to dispose of human waste.
johnmperry commented on the word wag
UK vernacular = wives and girlfriends
July 21, 2008
oroboros commented on the word wag
(W)ild (A)ss (G)uess
August 2, 2008