Obs. Forms: 3–4 waȝe, 4–6 wawe, 3 wau, (4 quawe), 4–5 waghe, (5 whaghe, wawghe), 6 wawhe, Sc. wa, 4–6, 9 arch. waw. [ME. waȝe, related to OE. waʓian WAW v.1
There may have been an OE. *waʓu str. fem. or *waʓe wk. fem., corresponding to MHG., MLG. wage, MDu. waege movement, agitation. In ME. the word took the place of the OE. wǽʓ masc. = OS., OHG. wâg (MHG. wâc, wâg- masc., mod.G. woge fem.), ON. vág-r, Goth. wêg-s:—OTeut. *wǣʓo-z flood, wave, and in the 16th c. was superseded by WAVE sb. In northern ME. dialects the present word would coincide in form with a possible adoption of ON. vág-r.]
A wave.
c. 1275. Lay., 11977. Waȝes [c. 1205 vðen] þar arne.
c. 1290. St. Brendan, 530, in S. Eng. Leg., 234. Þe wawes of þe se beoten also bi-fore and bi-hynde.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1844. On þe streme þat arche can ride, Þe wauus [13[?] Gött. wawis, c. 1375 Fairf. waghes] beft on ilk side.
c. 1325. Metr. Hom., 135. This schippe … That Crist rad in and his felawes, Imang dintes of gret quawes.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 2973. Þe se gan fighte, þe wawes ros.
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1561. The water is ever fresh and newe That welmeth up with wawes brighte [Fr. a grans ondes].
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1992. So wode were the waghes & þe wilde ythes. Ibid., 12310. Tho shippes to shilde o þe shyre whaghes.
c. 1400. Emaré, 322. She was so dryuen fro wawe to wawe, She hyd her hede and lay fulle lawe.
c. 1440. Generydes, 91. Full wekydly he and his vj felawes In to the see were cast among the wawis.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., iii. 426. Thise wawghes ar so wode.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. (1811), 373. The water of ye ryuer … was so troublous of wawe, that the brydge therwith was all to shaken.
1518. Ortus Vocab. (ed. 3), Flustrum,… sterynge of the see or a wawhe.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, xlvi. 156. The wawes … semyd so greate and hye as mounteyns.
1535. Coverdale, Jas. i. 6. He that douteth, is lyke the wawes [1526 Tindale waues] of the see.
1549. Thomas, Hist. Italie, 172. The little vessel … whiche the wawes of the sea by little and little draue towardes the lande.
1571. Sir J. Maitland, Admon. to Regent, 31. Bewar thairfoir wt wadder, waw, and wind.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 4. They on this rock are rent, and sunck in helplesse wawes.
1600. J. Melvill, Diary (Wodrow Soc.), 169. A tempestous schoure and drow … with sic a how wa and spenedrift, that … he lukit for grait danger.
[1821. Scott, Pirate, xxix. As I would pilot a boat betwixt Swona and Stroma, through all the waws, wells, and swelchies of the Pentland Firth.]
