# waive

Pronunciation: US say "WAYV" /weɪv/; UK

## Verb

1. To give up a legal right or claim voluntarily, choosing not to enforce or insist on it.
   - Simple: To give up a right or claim on purpose.
   - _The defendant agreed to waive his right to a jury trial._
   - _By signing the form, you waive any claim to future compensation._
2. To give up the right to collect a payment or fee that would otherwise be owed.
   - Simple: To agree not to charge money that someone would normally have to pay.
   - _The landlord chose to waive last month's rent during the repairs._
   - _Many lenders will waive early repayment penalties if you ask._

## Verb

3. To set aside or steer clear of something. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To set something aside or stay away from it.
   - _The captain chose to waive the open route and keep to the coast._
   - _She sought to waive any quarrel with her neighbors._
4. To abandon or give up a person or thing entirely. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To leave someone or something behind for good.
5. To place someone outside the protection of the law; to declare an outlaw. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To declare someone an outlaw, outside the law's protection.
8. To sway or swing to and fro, as branches or masts do in the wind. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To swing or move from side to side.
   - _Branches waive overhead as the storm rises._
   - _The ship's masts seemed to waive against the gray sky._
9. To stray or wander, moving without a settled course. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To wander or stray with no fixed path.
   - _Cattle waive freely over the unfenced moor._
   - _Pilgrims would waive for days before finding the shrine._

## Noun

6. An abandoned or homeless person; a castaway. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A person who has been left behind by others or has no home.
   - _A lonely waive wandered the docks, begging coins from sailors._
   - _The parish records listed several waives taken in that winter._
7. A woman placed outside the protection of the law; an outlawed woman. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A woman declared an outlaw, outside the law's protection.
   - _Branded a waive, she lost every legal right she had once held._
   - _The rolls recorded two waives among those condemned that year._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–5** — From Middle English weyven ("to avoid, renounce"), via Anglo-Norman weyver ("to abandon, allow to become a waif") and Old French waif and gaiver ("to abandon"), ultimately of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin.
**Meanings 8–9** — From Middle English weyven ("to wave, waver"), from Old Norse veifa ("to wave, swing"), from Proto-Germanic *waibijaną.
**Meanings 6–7** — From Anglo-Norman waive, probably as the past participle of weyver (see Etymology 1).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/waive (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).