# wag
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English waggen, probably from Old English wagian (“to wag, wave, shake”) with reinforcement from Old Norse vaga (“to wag, waddle”); both from Proto-Germanic *wagōną (“to wag”). Related to English way.
The verb may be regarded as an iterative or emphatic form of waw (verb), which is often nearly synonymous; it was used, e.g., of a loose tooth. Parallel formations from the same root are the Old Norse vagga feminine, cradle (Swedish vagga, Danish vugge), Swedish vagga (“to rock a cradle”), vugge (“to rock a cradle”), Dutch wagen (“to move”), early modern German waggen (dialectal German wacken) to waver, totter. Compare waggle, verb

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /wæɡ/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -æɡ

### Verb

wag (third-person singular simple present wags, present participle wagging, simple past and past participle wagged)
* To swing from side to side, as an animal's tail, or someone's head to express disagreement or disbelief.
** 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:No discerner durst wag his tongue in censure.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Bible Jeremiah:18–16:Every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
* (UK, Australia, slang) To play truant from school.
    Synonym: see Thesaurus:play truant
** 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “chapter xxii”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:"My misfortunes all began in wagging, Sir; but what could I do, exceptin' wag?" "Excepting what?" said Mr. Carker. "Wag, Sir. Wagging from school." "Do you mean pretending to go there, and not going?" said Mr. Carker. "Yes, Sir, that's wagging, Sir."
** 1901, William Sylvester Walker, Blood, i. 13:They had "wagged it" from school, as they termed it, which..meant truancy in all its forms.
** 2005, Arctic Monkeys, “Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts”, in I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor:[…] she wagged English and Science just to go in his car […]
* (intransitive, chiefly obsolete) To go; to proceed; to move; to progress.
** c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:"Thus we may see," quoth he, "how the world wags."
* To move continually, especially in gossip; said of the tongue.
    She's a real gossip: her tongue is always wagging.
* (intransitive, obsolete) To leave; to depart.
** 1623, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor:I will provoke him to 't, or let him wag.
* (intransitive, cricket, slang) Of the tail (lower order of the batting lineup): to score more runs than expected.
    The tail wagged.

#### Coordinate terms

* (swing from side to side): nod, no

#### Derived terms

* awag
* chinwag
* finger-wag
* tail wagging the dog
* wag a finger
* wag-at-the-wall
* wag hemp
* wag it
* wag-on-the-wall
* wag the dog
* wag-wanton

#### See also

* waggle (frequentative)
* wiggle

### Noun

wag (plural wags)
* An oscillating movement.
    The wag of my dog's tail expresses happiness.
* A witty person.
** c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:Was not my Lord The veryer Wag o'th' two?
** 1855 July 1, anonymous author, The Judge's Big Shirt‎, Yankee-notions, →ISSN:But being a bit of a wag, and relishing a good joke amazingly, he concluded to have a little fun, and at the same time learn his friend a lesson concerning his negligent custom.
** 1922, Robert C. Benchley, chapter XXII, in Love Conquers All, Henry Holt & Company, page 111:“A nice, juicy steak,” he is said to have called for, “French fries, apple pie and a cup of coffee.” It is probable that he really said “a coff of cuppee,” however, as he was a wag of the first water and loved a joke as well as the next king.
** 2019 December 8, Jason Farago, “A (Grudging) Defense of the $120,000 Banana”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:By Wednesday it had already won art-world notoriety, and on Saturday it achieved a public visibility that any artist would envy, after a self-promoting wag tore the banana off the wall and gobbled it up.
** 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 70:Many people can't work from home - as one wag observed: "Well, I would, but the wife doesn't like me laying tarmac in the front room!"

#### Derived terms

* hop the wag
* play the wag
* wag-halter
* waggy

#### See also

* skivitis

### See also

* wag one (etymologically unrelated)

### References

* The Oxford English Dictionary, (1989) The Oxford English Dictionary, Accessed 23 Feb. 2006.
* Jonathon Green, "wag," The Cassell Dictionary of Slang, (1998) p. 1257.

### Anagrams

* AGW, AWG, GWA, Gaw, WGA, gaw

## Afrikaans
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /vaχ/

### Etymology 1

From Dutch wacht, from Middle Dutch wachte, from Old Dutch wahta (“watch, sentry, guard”), from Proto-Germanic *wahtwō (“watch, vigil”).

#### Noun

wag (plural wagte)
* guard

##### Derived terms

* skildwag
* waghou
* wagtoring
* wagwoord

### Etymology 2

From Dutch wachten, from Middle Dutch wachten (“to watch, guard, keep watch, wait”), from Old Dutch *wahton, derived from wahta.

#### Verb

wag (present wag, present participle wagtende, past participle gewag)
* (intransitive) to wait [with vir ‘for’]

## German
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /vaːk/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -aːk

### Verb

wag
* singular imperative of wagen
* (colloquial) first-person singular present of wagen

## Middle English
### Noun

wag
* Alternative form of wage

## Old English
### Alternative forms

* wāh

### Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *waigaz.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /wɑːɡ/, [wɑːɣ]

### Noun

wāg m
* wall (of a building or a house)

#### Declension

Strong a-stem:

#### Derived terms

* wāgrift
* wāgþyrel

#### Descendants

* Middle English: wagh, wough
** English: waw, wough

## Old Saxon
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wāg, from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz.

### Noun

wāg m
* wave
* flood

### References

* "wāg" in Köbler, Gerhard, Altsächsisches Wörterbuch (5th edition 2014)

## Polish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈvak/
* Rhymes: -ak
* Syllabification: wag

### Noun

wag f
* genitive plural of waga

## Tagalog
### Etymology

Clipping of huwag, also a colloquial pronunciation spelling.

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Tagalog) IPA: /ˈwaɡ/ [ˈwaɡ̚]
* Rhymes: -aɡ
* Syllabification: wag

### Verb

wag (Baybayin spelling ᜏᜄ᜔) (colloquial)
* Alternative form of huwag

### Interjection

wag (Baybayin spelling ᜏᜄ᜔) (colloquial)
* Alternative form of huwag

## Welsh
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /waːɡ/

### Adjective

wag
* Soft mutation of gwag.

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.