▪ I. waning, vbl. n.
(ˈweɪnɪŋ)
[f. wane v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb.
1. gen. Decrease or diminution in magnitude, importance, brilliancy, intensity, etc.
As OE. wanian (wane v.) had the trans. sense ‘to make less’ as well as the intr. sense ‘to become less’, the vbl. n. had the two corresponding meanings, but (as often occurs with nouns of action) the two are often practically coincident, and cannot be distinguished with certainty.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. ii. ii. (Schipper) 121 Nalæs butan micelre wonunge his weorodes [L. non sine magno exercitus sui damno]. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvi. (John Baptist) 224 Þat tyme of þe ȝere borne wes he, quhene þat þe dais takis linthynge; & Iohne, quhen þai tak wanynge. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xl. (Tollemache MS.), This lyȝte with oute wanynge of it selfe scheweþ and schedeþ by⁓schinynge. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. x. 22, I seeke not to waxe great by others waining [so Rowe conj.: Folio warning]. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. vi. lxx, Can.. One onely blot so great a light empair, That never could he hope his waning to repair? 1884 Harper's Mag. July 260/1 The Gunnings' beauty was at the waning. |
| † Phrase. 1583 Babington Commandm. (1590) 429 Will not the dread of dolefull day strike such a filthy fault into the waning, and by little and little cut quite the throte of it, and make it bleede to death in vs? |
† b. Damage inflicted by a person. Obs.
| c 1175 Pater Noster 278 in Lamb. Hom. 71 Kep us from his waning, þat laþe gast. |
† c. Default, shortcoming. Obs.
| c 1320 Cast. Love 228 in Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 361 God ne wrouhte neuer þat þing Þat out les þorw his wonyng, ffor nis no wone on him I-long. |
2. Of the moon: Periodical decrease in apparent size (see wane v. 2); the half of the lunar month in which this takes place.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 268/13 æfre hi [sc. seo sæ & se mona] beoð ᵹeferan on wæstme & on wanunge. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xvii. (1495) 326 The mone encreasyth all humours, and in her wanynge the..humours of the body ben made lesse. 14.. Lat.-Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 593/48 Lucubrax [sic], wonynge of monythe. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 826 To graffe and sowe in growynge of the mone, And kitte or mowe in wanyng, is to done. 1657 J. Watts Scribe, Pharisee, etc. 87 Their light was as the light of the Moon, mingled with some spots, subject to wainings, decreases, and eclipses. 1683 Digby's Chym. Secr. ii. 198 The best time to gather the Misletoe of the Oak..is in the.. Waning of the Moon. 1822 J. Imison Sci. & Art I. 437 The waning or decreasing of the moon takes place in the same manner, but in a contrary order. |
| fig. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xxi. 138 He with many others helped to the waining of that half Moon, which sought to govern all the motion of our Sea. |
† b. with the epithet wild: cf. waniand.
| c 1435 in Kingsford Chron. London (1905) 75 In the croke off the mone went they thedirward, and in the wilde wanynge kom they homward. |
† 3. Decline (of life); concluding part (of a day, or period of time). Obs.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 269 Them, whom..the tendre kindnes of the Lord hath rewarded at the waining of the daye, and at the ending of their life. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 159 In the wayning of the world, wherein so many false Christs are come. 1592 Greene Disput. Conny-catchers Wks. (Grosart) X. 238 Beeing gotten in the wayning of my parents age, they doted on me aboue the rest [of their children]. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. C 2, Let mee quietly descend to the waining of my youthful daies, and tell a little of the sweating sicknes. |
4. Comb.: waning time.
| a 1639 Wotton Life & D. Buckingham (1642) 3 There is nothing..more jealous, then a favorite, especially towards the wayning time and suspect of saciety. 1680 C. Nesse Church Hist. 154 The moon..is the embleme of the church..as having her filling and weaning times. |
▪ II. ˈwaning, ppl. a.
[f. wane v. + -ing2.]
That wanes or is on the wane.
1. Decreasing or declining in importance, power, influence, etc. (See the senses of the vb.)
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. Induct. ii. 65 Thou hast a Ladie farre more Beautifull, Then any woman in this waining age. 1622 Fletcher Sea Voy. iv. (1647) 14/2 Am I because I am in bonds and miserable,..My fortune like my wayning selfe, for this despis'd? 1831 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Ellistoniana, The last retreat, and recess, of his every-day waning grandeur. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 90 The clergy sunk under the influence of a waning religion. 1882 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. iii. i. i. §2. 209 The dormant or waning condition of a volcano. 1896 Conan Doyle Exploits Gerard ix, I hurried wildly onward through the waning darkness. |
¶ b. in the wild waning world: perversion of in the wild waniand: see waniand, wanion, and cf. quot. c 1435 in waning vbl. n. 2 b.
| c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 140 In þe wyld wanyng word, pes all at onys! |
c. Ageing, growing old. rare.
| 1895 Season Mar., Suppl. 45/3, I do not, as a rule, approve of black for waning people..but in this case, as the wearer was rather florid, the garment was a success. |
2. Of the moon.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 320 Þas wyrte þu scealt niman on waniᵹendum monan. 1705 Addison Italy, Ferrara 115 Waining Moons their settled Periods keep To swell the Billows. 1755 B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sci. 123 When God appoints, the horned Moon renews Her waining Light. 1797 Coleridge Kubla Khan 15 Beneath a waning moon. 1814 Byron Lara ii. xxiv, When Cynthia's light almost gave way to morn, And nearly veil'd in mist her waning horn. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857) I. 100 The waning, and the re-appearing moon. |
3. Of light, or a luminary: Declining in lustre, tending towards extinction.
| 1700 Blackmore Song of Moses (Exod. xv.) 45 Let him..lift on high his Adamantine Shield, Whose brighter Lustre drowns the waining Sun. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T., Forrester xiv, His waning candle sunk in the socket. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxxi, At last the day turned her waning candle pale, and she fell asleep. 1846 Keble Lyra Innoc., Fine Clothes, Around where late the waning sun Sank in his evening cloud. 1873 E. E. Hale In His Name ix. 77 The waning embers of the fire. |
b. Of the day: Drawing to a close.
| 1767 Jago Edge-hill iv. 156 But of the waining Day Mindful, and many a Theme as yet unsung, To future Bards she leaves your copious Praise. |
4. Becoming scanty, running short. Now rare.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. viii. 375 Our victuals and water done, we were forced to relye vpon Tobacco, and to drinke our owne wayning pisse. 1810 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) I. iv. 111 It is well for you that my waning paper..brings this tiresome letter to an end. 1900 Conan Doyle Green Flag etc. 77 Behind him stood the watchful steward, for ever filling up his waning glass. |