waved

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of wave.

   The crowd waved bright flags as the parade rolled past.

   They have waved off every offer of help so far.

   Note

   A regular past form: one spelling covers both "they waved" and "they have waved," and it also builds the passive, as in "her hair was waved for the evening." That passive comes from the hairdresser's use of the verb, and it shades easily into a plain describing word, waved hair. This is where the participle starts to sound like the "undulating" adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having a wave-like outline or surface; rising and falling in a smooth, repeating curve.

   Like the rippling outline of a flag caught in a light breeze.

   The architect designed a waved facade that echoed the rolling dunes nearby.

   A waved ribbon of cloud stretched across the horizon at dusk.

   Similarwavy, undulating, sinuous, curved

   Oppositestraight, flat

   Note

   Here the participle has settled into a word for shape. It can describe a facade, a ribbon of cloud or a line on a page. It compares with more and most (a more waved edge, the most waved of the patterns) rather than with endings. Heraldry and botany each narrow it into a term of art: the heraldic line and the leaf-margin sense.

3. 3
   adjective

   Drawn with an undulating line or border, as when dividing or bordering a heraldic shield.

   The blazon described a chevron waved between three silver stars.

   A waved border separated the two colors on the knight's shield.

   Similarwavy

   Note

   A blazon word, interchangeable with wavy, for a line of partition or the edge of an ordinary drawn as a run of undulations. It belongs with the other line names, such as straight, engrailed and indented. Like them, it follows its noun in blazon: a chevron waved, a bend waved. It describes the shape of the drawn line, never movement.

4. 4
   adjective

   Having a margin marked by a succession of curved segments or shallow incisions.

   The botanist noted the waved margin on each specimen's leaves.

   Several oak relatives produce leaves with a distinctly waved outline.

   Similarwavy, undulate, sinuate

   Oppositeentire, smooth

   Note

   Descriptive botany uses it for a leaf edge cut into a repeating run of rounded curves or shallow incisions. What matters is the depth and shape of the cuts. They are shallower than on a lobed edge and rounder than on a toothed one, and the edge is not smooth. It usually modifies margin or outline, as in a leaf with a waved margin.

Showing meanings only. Show all 4