waning - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English waninge, alteration of earlier waniand, waniende, from Old English waniende, from Proto-Germanic *wanōndz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *wanōną (“to wane”), equivalent to wane +‎ -ing.

waning

  1. present participle and gerund of wane

waning (not comparable)

  1. Becoming weaker or smaller.
    my patience is waning
  2. Of the lunar phase: as it shrinks when viewed from the Earth.
    the waning moon

becoming weaker or smaller

of the lunar phase

From Middle English waning, waninge, wonunge, from Old English wanung (“waning; diminution”), from Proto-Germanic *wanungō, equivalent to wane +‎ -ing.

waning (plural wanings)

  1. The fact or act of becoming less or less intense or present; fading.
    the waning of her energy
    • 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:
      And boyhood is a summer sun
      Whose waning is the dreariest one —
      For all we live to know is known
      And all we seek to keep hath flown — […]
    • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:
      Soothed again, but only soothed to deeper gloom, Ahab, who had sterned off from the whale, sat intently watching his final wanings from the now tranquil boat.
  2. The fact or act of becoming smaller.
    • 17th century, Joseph Hall, Epistle to Mr. R. B.
      This earthly moon, the Church, hath her fulls and wanings, and sometimes her eclipses.

becoming weaker or smaller

The fact or act of becoming smaller

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

waning n (plural waninge)

  1. (Mooring) window