Chapter Wadmol to Wagonage of W by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

To move one way and the other with quick turns; to shake to and fro; to move vibratingly; to cause to vibrate, as a part of the body; as, to wag the head.

No discerner durst wag his tongue in censure.

Shak.

Every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.

Jer. xviii. 16.

Wag expresses specifically the motion of the head and body used in buffoonery, mirth, derision, sport, and mockery.

Wag
(Wag), v. i.

1. To move one way and the other; to be shaken to and fro; to vibrate.

The resty sieve wagged ne'er the more.

Dryden.

2. To be in action or motion; to move; to get along; to progress; to stir. [Colloq.]

"Thus we may see," quoth he, "how the world wags."

Shak.

3. To go; to depart; to pack oft. [R.]

I will provoke him to 't, or let him wag.

Shak.

Wag
(Wag), n. [From Wag, v.]

1. The act of wagging; a shake; as, a wag of the head. [Colloq.]

2. [Perhaps shortened from wag-halter a rogue.] A man full of sport and humor; a ludicrous fellow; a humorist; a wit; a joker.

We wink at wags when they offend.

Dryden.

A counselor never pleaded without a piece of pack thread in his hand, which he used to twist about a finger all the while he was speaking; the wags used to call it the thread of his discourse.

Addison.

Wagati
(||Wa*ga"ti) n. (Zoöl.) A small East Indian wild cat regarded by some as a variety of the leopard cat.

Wage
(Wage) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Waged ; p. pr. & vb. n. Waging ] [OE. wagen, OF. wagier, gagier, to pledge, promise, F. gager to wager, lay, bet, fr. LL. wadium a pledge; of Teutonic origin; cf. Goth. wadi a pledge, gawadjon to pledge, akin to E. wed, G. wette a wager. See Wed, and cf. Gage.]

1. To pledge; to hazard on the event of a contest; to stake; to bet, to lay; to wager; as, to wage a dollar. Hakluyt.

My life I never but as a pawn
To wage against thy enemies.

Shak.

2. To expose one's self to, as a risk; to incur, as a danger; to venture; to hazard. "Too weak to wage an instant trial with the king." Shak.

To wake and wage a danger profitless.

Shak.