waggle
/ˈwaɡəl/ verb, noun
Forms waggles waggling waggled
- verb (transitive) To move (something) with short, quick motions; to wobble.
- verb (transitive, of the eyebrows) To quickly raise and lower in rapid succession, usually as an implication of slyness, smugness, or suggestiveness.
- verb (intransitive) To reel, sway, or move from side to side; to move with a wagging motion; to waddle.
- noun An instance of waggling.
- noun A wobbling motion. “Give the cable a waggle to let it come out quicker.”
- noun (golf) The preliminary swinging of the club head back and forth over the ball in the line of the proposed stroke.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English wagelen (attested in wagelyng), possibly a borrowing of Middle Low German wagelen; equivalent to wag + -le (“(frequentative)”). Compare continental equivalents Middle High German wacken ( > Danish vakle, German wackeln), Swedish vagla, West Frisian waggelje, Low German wackeln, Dutch waggelen.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To reel, sway, or move from side to side; to move with a wagging motion; to waddle.
- verb To move frequently one way and the other; to wag; as, a bird waggles his tail.
Etymology [Freq. of wag; cf. D. waggelen, G. wackeln.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “waggle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details