Wane | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Wāne, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. WANED; p. pr. & vb. n. WANING.] [A-S. wanian, wonian, O. Fries. wania, wonia, O. H. Ger. wanôn, M. H. Ger. wanen, Icel. vana, fr. A-S. wan, won; Icel. van, vanr, Sw. & Dan. van, O. Sax. & O. H. Ger. wan, deficient, vain, wanting.]

Sense 1. To be diminished; to decrease;—especially applied to the illuminated part of the moon. “This earthly moon, the Church, hath her fulls and wanings, and sometimes her eclipses.” Bp. Hall.

Waning moons their settled periods keep. Addison.

Red gleamed the cross, and waned the crescent pale. Byron.

Sense 2. To decline; to fail; to sink; as, the waning age of life.

You saw but sorrow in its waning form. Dryden.

Land and trade ever will wax and wane together. Child.

Wāne, v. t.

verbtransitive

To cause to decrease. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Wāne, n.

noun

n. 1. Decrease of the illuminated part of the moon to the eye of a spectator.

Sense 2. Decline; failure; diminution; decrease; declension.

You are cast upon an age in which the church is in its wane. South.

Sense 3. Specifically, a deficiency in a board, as an inequality, and the like. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.