different between wane vs lighten

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /we?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n
• Homophones: wain, Wayne

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Old English wana (“defect, shortage”); the verb from Old English wanian via Middle English wanien. Both ultimately trace to Proto-Germanic *wan?n?, from Proto-Indo-European *h?weh?- (“to leave, abandon; empty, deserted”), whence also wan-, want, and waste. Compare also Dutch waan (“insanity”) and German Wahn (“insanity”) deprecated defect, Old Norse vanr (“lacking”) ( > Danish prefix van-, only found in compounds), Latin vanus, Gothic ???????????????? (wans, “missing, lacking”), Albanian vonë (“late, futile, mentally retarded”), Armenian ?????? (unayn, “empty”), Old Saxon and Old High German wanon (“to decrease”), Modern Dutch weinig (“a few”), Modern German weniger (“less”), comparative of wenig (“few”) (-ig being a derivate suffix; -er the suffix of comparatives). Doublet of vain, vaunt, vaniloquent, vast, vacuum, vacant, vacate, which are Latin-derived, via the PIE root.

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. A gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.
   • 1853, Herman Melville, "Bartleby, the Scrivener," in Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories, New York: Penguin, 1968; reprinted 1995 as Bartleby, ?ISBN, p. 3,

     In the morning, one might say, his face was of a fine florid hue, but after twelve o'clock, meridian -- his dinner hour -- it blazed like a grate full of Christmas coals; and continued blazing -- but, as it were, with a gradual wane -- till six o'clock, PM, or thereabouts; after which, I saw no more of the proprietor of the face, [...].

   • 1913, Michael Ott, The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Wenzel Anton Kaunitz",

     His influence which was on the wane during the reign of Joseph II grew still less during the reign of Leopold II (1790-2).

2. The lunar phase during which the sun seems to illuminate less of the moon as its sunlit area becomes progressively smaller as visible from Earth.
   • 1926, H. P. Lovecraft, "The Moon-Bog",

     It was very dark, for although the sky was clear the moon was now well in the wane, and would not rise till the small hours.

3. (literary) The end of a period.
   • 1845, Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, or The Two Nations, Book 1, Chapter 3,

     The situation of the Venetian party in the wane of the eighteenth century had become extremely critical.

4. (woodworking) A rounded corner caused by lack of wood, often showing bark.
   • 2002, Peter Ross, Appraisal and Repair of Timber Structures, p. 11,

     Sapwood, or even bark, may appear on the corners, or may have been cut off, resulting in wane, or missing timber.

Usage notes

• When referring to the moon or a time period, the word is found mostly in prepositional phrases like in or on the wane.

Synonyms

• (a diminution in power, value, etc.): decrease, decline

Translations

Verb

wane (third-person singular simple present wanes, present participle waning, simple past and past participle waned)

1. (intransitive) To progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc.; to decline.
   • 1668, Sir Josiah Child, A New Discourse of Trade

     Land and trade ever will wax and wane together.

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 118:

     I have sat before the dense coal fire and watched it all aglow, full of its tormented flaming life; and I have seen it wane at last, down, down, to dumbest dust.

   • 1902, John Masefield, "The Golden City of St. Mary":

     And in the cool twilight when the sea-winds wane […]
2. (intransitive) Said of light that dims or diminishes in strength.
   • 1894, Algernon Charles Swinburne, A Nympholept:

     The skies may hold not the splendour of sundown fast; / It wanes into twilight as dawn dies down into day.

3. (intransitive, astronomy) Said of the Moon as it passes through the phases of its monthly cycle where its surface is less and less visible.
   • 1866, Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, "The Man in the Moon":

     The fall of Jack, and the subsequent fall of Jill, simply represent the vanishing of one moon-spot after another, as the moon wanes.

4. (intransitive) Said of a time period that comes to an end.
   • 1894, Algernon Charles Swinburne, "A Swimmer's Dream":

     Fast as autumn days toward winter: yet it seems//Here that autumn wanes not, here that woods and streams

5. (intransitive, archaic) To decrease physically in size, amount, numbers or surface.
   • 1815, Walter Scott, Guy Mannering, chapter XIX:

     The snow which had been for some time waning, had given way entirely under the fresh gale of the preceding night.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to decrease.
   • 1610, Ben Jonson, The Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers

     In which no lustful finger can profane him,
     Nor any earth with black eclipses wane him

   • 1797, Anna Seward, Letter to Mrs Childers of Yorkshire:

     Proud once and princely was the mansion, ere a succession of spendthrifts waned away its splendour.

Antonyms

• wax

Derived terms

• wax and wane

Translations

Etymology 2

From Scots wean.

Alternative forms

• wain, waine, wean

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. (Scotland, slang) A child.

Etymology 3

From Middle English w?ne, w?ne (“dwelling," "custom”), of unclear origins, compare wont.

Alternative forms

• wone (Southern England)

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. (chiefly Northern England and Scotland, obsolete) A house or dwelling.

Anagrams

• Ewan, Newa, anew, wean

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??a?.n?/
• Hyphenation: wa?ne

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Compare Sranan Tongo wana.

Noun

wane c (uncountable)

1. (Surinam) A type of South American tree that produces hardwood, Sextonia rubra.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

wane

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of wanen

Middle Dutch

Verb

wâne

1. inflection of wânen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English wana, wona (noun) and wan, won (noun), related to wanian (“to diminish”).

Noun

wane (uncountable)

1. penury, deprivation, neediness
2. lack, absence
3. diminution

Alternative forms

• wan, won, wone; wain (Northern)

Descendants

• English: wane
• Scots: wane, waine

References

• “w?ne, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Probably from Old English w?an or w?ana, oblique cases of w?a (“woe, grief, misery”).

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. woeful, miserable state; adversity; misfortune
2. affliction, tribulation
3. destruction

Alternative forms

• wan, won, wone
• weane, wæn, wæne, wæine, wen, wene (early, southwest Midlands)

Descendants

• English: wane

References

• “w?ne, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

From Old English wana, wona (adjective) and wan, won (adjective), related to wanian (“to diminish”).

Adjective

wane

1. inadequate, incomplete, imperfect
2. lacking, missing, absent

Alternative forms

• wan, wanne, wone, won, vane

Descendants

• English: wane
• Scots: wan, wane

References

• “w?ne, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 4

Noun

wane (uncountable)

1. (Northern) Alternative form of vein

Etymology 5

Adverb

wane

1. Alternative form of fain

Etymology 6

Adjective

wane

1. Alternative form of wan

Etymology 7

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. (Northern, early) Alternative form of wone (“dwelling”)

Etymology 8

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. (Northern) Alternative form of wone (“course”)

Etymology 9

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. Alternative form of wain (“wagon”)

Etymology 10

Noun

wane (plural wanes)

1. Alternative form of veine (“vein”)

Etymology 11

Verb

wane (third-person singular simple present waneth, present participle wanynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle waned)

1. Alternative form of wanen

Etymology 12

Adverb

wane

1. Alternative form of whenne

Conjunction

wane

1. Alternative form of whenne

Etymology 13

Verb

wane

1. Alternative form of wanne: singular simple past of winnen
2. Alternative form of wonnen: plural simple past of winnen

Etymology 14

Adverb

wane

1. Alternative form of whanne

Conjunction

wane

1. Alternative form of whanne

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?la?.t?n/
• Rhymes: -a?t?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light +? -en.

Verb

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

1. (transitive) To make brighter or clearer; to illuminate.
   • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, London: Henry Herringman, stanza 231, p. 59,^[1]

     A Key of fire ran all along the shore,

     And lighten’d all the river with the blaze:

2. (intransitive) To become brighter or clearer; to brighten.
3. (intransitive, archaic) To burst forth or dart, as lightning; to shine with, or like, lightning; to flash.
   • 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, line 500,^[2]

     Enter the Conjurer; it lightens and thunders […]

   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 3,^[3]

     […] this dreadful night,

     That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars

     As doth the lion.

4. (transitive) To emit or disclose in, or as if in, lightning; to flash out, like lightning.
   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act III, Scene 3,^[4]

     […] behold his eye,

     As bright as is the eagle’s, lightens forth

     Controlling majesty:

5. To illuminate with knowledge; to enlighten.
   • 1599, John Davies, “Of the Soule of man, and the immortalitie thereof” in Nosce Teipsum. This Oracle Expounded in Two Elegies, London: John Standish, p. 10,^[5]

     O Light which mak’st the Light, which makes the Day,

     Which setst the Eye without and Mind within,

     Lighten my spirit with one cleare heavenly ray,

     Which now to view it selfe doth first begin.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• lighten up

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English lightnen, equivalent to light +? -en.

Verb

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

1. (transitive) To alleviate; to reduce the burden of.

2. (transitive) To make light or lighter in weight.
3. (transitive) To make less serious or more cheerful.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalms 34:5,^[6]

     They looked unto him, were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

4. (intransitive) To become light or lighter in weight.
5. (intransitive) To become less serious or more cheerful.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• lighten up

Translations

Etymology 3

From light +? -en.

Verb

lighten (third-person singular simple present lightens, present participle lightening, simple past and past participle lightened)

1. To descend; to light.
   • Book of Common Prayer

     O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us.

Related terms

• alight

Anagrams

• enlight, lething