different between spiral vs wave

English

Etymology

From Middle French spirale, from Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spira, from Ancient Greek ?????? (speíra, “wreath, coil, twist”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?spa???l/
• Rhymes: -a???l

Noun

spiral (plural spirals)

1. (geometry) A curve that is the locus of a point that rotates about a fixed point while continuously increasing its distance from that point.
2. (informal) A helix.
3. A self-sustaining process with a lot of momentum involved, so it is difficult to accelerate or stop it at once.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

spiral (not comparable)

1. Helical, like a spiral

Translations

Verb

spiral (third-person singular simple present spirals, present participle (US) spiraling or (UK) spiralling, simple past and past participle (US) spiraled or (UK) spiralled)

1. (intransitive) To move along the path of a spiral or helix.

   The falling leaves spiralled down from the tree.

2. (transitive) To cause something to spiral.

   You need to learn how to spiral a ball.

3. (figuratively, intransitive) To increase continually.

   Her debts were spiralling out of control.

Translations

Further reading

• spiral on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• Aprils, Plairs, prials

Danish

Pronunciation

Noun

spiral c (singular definite spiralen, plural indefinite spiraler)

1. spiral

Declension

Further reading

• “spiral” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “spiral” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spi.?al/

Adjective

spiral (feminine singular spirale, masculine plural spiraux, feminine plural spirales)

1. spiral

Noun

spiral m (plural spiraux)

1. spiral

Further reading

• “spiral” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

spiral

1. hip

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

• Koponen, Eino; Ruppel, Klaas; Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002-2008) Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages?^[1], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spira

Noun

spiral m (definite singular spiralen, indefinite plural spiraler, definite plural spiralene)

1. a spiral, coil
2. a coil (contraceptive device)

Derived terms

• spiralfjær
• spiraltrapp

References

• “spiral” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Medieval Latin spiralis, from Latin spira

Noun

spiral m (definite singular spiralen, indefinite plural spiralar, definite plural spiralane)

1. a spiral, coil
2. a coil (contraceptive device)

Derived terms

• spiraltrapp

References

• “spiral” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology

From French spiral

Adjective

spiral m or n (feminine singular spiral?, masculine plural spirali, feminine and neuter plural spirale)

1. spiral

Declension

Further reading

• spiral in DEX online - Dic?ionare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

spiral c

1. spiral

Declension

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?v, IPA^(key): /we?v/
• Homophone: waive
• Rhymes: -e?v

Etymology 1

From Middle English waven, from Old English wafian (“to wave, fluctuate, waver in mind, wonder”), from Proto-Germanic *wab?n?, *wabjan? (“to wander, sway”), from Proto-Indo-European *web?- (“to move to and from, wander”). Cognate with Middle High German waben (“to wave”), German wabern (“to waft”), Icelandic váfa (“to fluctuate, waver, doubt”). See also waver.

Verb

wave (third-person singular simple present waves, present participle waving, simple past and past participle waved)

1. (intransitive) To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely.
2. (intransitive) To move one’s hand back and forth (generally above the shoulders) in greeting or departure.
3. (transitive, metonymically) To call attention to, or give a direction or command to, by a waving motion, as of the hand; to signify by waving; to beckon; to signal; to indicate.
   • She spoke, and bowing waved / Dismissal.

4. (intransitive) To have an undulating or wavy form.
5. (transitive) To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.
6. (transitive) To produce waves to the hair.

   • There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs; […].

7. (intransitive, baseball) To swing and miss at a pitch.

8. (transitive) To cause to move back and forth repeatedly.

9. (transitive, metonymically) To signal (someone or something) with a waving movement.
10. (intransitive, obsolete) To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state.
11. (intransitive, ergative) To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft.

Hyponyms

• wave off

Derived terms

• waver

Related terms

• wave the white flag

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English *wave, partially from waven (“to fluctuate, wave”) (see above) and partially from Middle English wawe, waghe (“wave”), from Old English w?g (“a wave, billow, motion, water, flood, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *w?gaz (“motion, storm, wave”), from Proto-Indo-European *we??- (“to drag, carry”). Cognate with North Frisian weage (“wave, flood, sea”), German Woge (“wave”), French vague (“wave”) (from Germanic), Gothic ???????????????? (w?gs, “a wave”). See also waw.

Noun

wave (plural waves)

1. A moving disturbance in the level of a body of liquid; an undulation.
2. (poetic) The ocean.
   • 1895, Fiona Macleod (William Sharp), The Sin-Eater and Other Tales

     […] your father Murtagh Ross, and his lawful childless wife, Dionaid, and his sister Anna—one and all, they lie beneath the green wave or in the brown mould.

3. (physics) A moving disturbance in the energy level of a field.

4. A shape that alternatingly curves in opposite directions.

5. Any of a number of species of moths in the geometrid subfamily Sterrhinae, which have wavy markings on the wings.
6. A loose back-and-forth movement, as of the hands.

   He dismissed her with a wave of the hand.

7. (figuratively) A sudden, but temporary, uptick in something.

   Synonym: rush
8. (video games, by extension) One of the successive swarms of enemies sent to attack the player in certain games.
9. (usually "the wave") A group activity in a crowd imitating a wave going through water, where people in successive parts of the crowd stand and stretch upward, then sit.

Synonyms

• (an undulation): und (obsolete, rare)
• (group activity): Mexican wave (chiefly Commonwealth)

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

• wave at OneLook Dictionary Search
• wave in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Etymology 3

See waive.

Verb

wave (third-person singular simple present waves, present participle waving, simple past and past participle waved)

1. Obsolete spelling of waive

Middle English

Verb

wave

1. Alternative form of waven