different between glide vs waft

English

Etymology

From Middle English gliden, from Old English gl?dan, from Proto-West Germanic *gl?dan, from Proto-Germanic *gl?dan?, from Proto-Indo-European *??leyd?-.

Cognate with West Frisian glide, glydzje, Low German glieden, Dutch glijden, German gleiten, Norwegian Nynorsk gli, Danish glide, Swedish glida.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??la?d/
• Rhymes: -a?d

Verb

glide (third-person singular simple present glides, present participle gliding, simple past glided or glid or (archaic) glode, past participle glided or glid or glidden or (archaic) glode)

1. (intransitive) To move softly, smoothly, or effortlessly.
   • 1807, William Wordsworth, Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802, in Poems, in Two Volumes (Sonnet 14):

     The river glideth at his own sweet will:

   • 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter VI:

     The water over which the boats glided was black and smooth, rising into huge foamless billows, the more terrible because they were silent.
2. (intransitive) To fly unpowered, as of an aircraft. Also relates to gliding birds and flying fish.
3. (transitive) To cause to glide.
4. (phonetics) To pass with a glide, as the voice.

Synonyms

• (to move effortlessly): coast, slide

Translations

Noun

glide (plural glides)

1. The act of gliding.
2. (phonology) A transitional sound, especially a semivowel.

   Synonyms: semivowel, semiconsonant

3. (fencing) An attack or preparatory movement made by sliding down the opponent’s blade, keeping it in constant contact.
4. A bird, the glede or kite.
5. A kind of cap affixed to the base of the legs of furniture to prevent it from damaging the floor.
6. The joining of two sounds without a break.
7. A smooth and sliding step in dancing the waltz.

Related terms

• glider
• gliding
• offglide, off-glide
• onglide, on-glide

Translations

Anagrams

• gelid, lidge, liged

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• glida (a infinitive)
• gli (short form)

Etymology

From Middle Low German gliden

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²?li??/

Verb

glide (present tense glid, past tense gleid, past participle glidd or glitt or glide, present participle glidande, imperative glid)

1. to slip (to lose one's traction on a slippery surface)

2. to glide (to move effortlessly)

References

• “glide” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Volapük

Noun

glide

1. dative singular of glid

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian gl?da, from Proto-West Germanic *gl?dan, from Proto-Germanic *gl?dan?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??lid?/, /??li?d?/

Verb

glide

1. to glide, to slide

Inflection

Further reading

• “glide”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

English

Etymology

From Middle English waften, of uncertain origin. Possibly from unattested Old English *wafettan, from wafian (“to wave”) +? -ettan, or perhaps borrowed from Middle Dutch wachten (“to guard, provide for”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?ft
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /w?ft/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w?ft/
• (Received Pronunciation, dated) IPA^(key): /w??ft/
• (Regional American) IPA^(key): /wæft/
• Rhymes: -?ft

Verb

waft (third-person singular simple present wafts, present participle wafting, simple past and past participle wafted)

1. (ergative) To (cause to) float easily or gently through the air.
2. (intransitive) To be moved, or to pass, on a buoyant medium; to float.
   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe, London: [s.n.], OCLC 497010563, Act III, scene i; republished as “Aureng-Zebe, a Tragedy”, in Walter Scott, editor, The Works of John Dryden, now First Collected in Eighteen Volumes. Illustrated with Notes, Historical, Critical, and Explanatory, and a Life of the Author, by Walter Scott, Esq., volume V, London: Printed for William Miller, Albemarle Street, by James Ballantyne and Co. Edinburgh, 1808, OCLC 317070632, page 226:

     Unhappy Aureng-Zebe is in disgrace; / And your Morat, proclaimed the successor, / Is called, to awe the city with his power. / Those trumpets his triumphant entry tell, / And now the shouts waft near the citadel.

3. To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon.

Translations

Noun

waft (plural wafts)

1. A light breeze.
2. Something (such as an odor or scent like a perfume) that is carried through the air.
3. (nautical) A flag used to indicate wind direction or, with a knot tied in the center, as a signal; a waif, a wheft.

Translations

References