waggle
/ˈwaɡəl/
waggle verb: to move (something) with short, quick motions; to wobble.
Verb
waggle (third-person singular simple present waggles, present participle waggling, simple past and past participle waggled)
- To move (something) with short, quick motions; to wobble.
- The Mole waggled his toes from sheer happiness, spread his chest with a sigh of full contentment, and leaned back blissfully into the soft cushions.1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC
- Oscar turned to someone who wasn't there and waggled his head. "Hoo, boy," he said.1958 May, Avram Davidson, “Or All The Seas With Oysters”, in Galaxy Science Fiction, page 56
- To quickly raise and lower in rapid succession, usually as an implication of slyness, smugness, or suggestiveness.
- To reel, sway, or move from side to side; to move with a wagging motion; to waddle.
- I know you by the waggling of your head.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Why do you go Nodding and Waggling so like a Fool, as if you were Hipshot? says the Goose to her Gosselin.1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC
Noun
waggle (plural waggles)
- An instance of waggling.
- A wobbling motion.
- Give the cable a waggle to let it come out quicker.
- The preliminary swinging of the club head back and forth over the ball in the line of the proposed stroke.
waggle meaning in Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
waggle in Urdu
- ہلنا, کپکپانا
waggle in Malayalam
- wag-1, swish, swing
- ആട്ടുക, വാലാട്ടുക, അങ്ങോട്ടും ഇങ്ങോട്ടും ആടുക, ആടുക, വീശുക, വീയുക
waggle in Kannada
- ಅಲ್ಲಾಡಿಸು
Examples of waggle in a sentence
- Me wanter come ter yer,' waggling her black fingers directingly through the cracks.
- He waggled under his chin scornfully with his fingers.
- Except me, of course.” He waggles his eyebrows suggestively.
Forms of waggle
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | waggles |
| present participle | waggling |
| past participle | waggled |
| past | waggled |
| Noun | |
| plural | waggles |
Origin of waggle
From Middle English wagelen (attested in wagelyng), possibly a borrowing of Middle Low German wagelen; equivalent to wag + -le (“(frequentative)”). Compare continental equivalents Middle High German wacken ( > Danish vakle, German wackeln), Swedish vagla, West Frisian waggelje, Low German wackeln, Dutch waggelen.
Words formed from waggle
Phrases with waggle
Words that rhyme with waggle
Questions about waggle
- What does waggle mean?
- Waggle means to move (something) with short, quick motions; to wobble.
- What is waggle in Urdu?
- Waggle in Urdu is ہلنا, کپکپانا. See Waggle meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is waggle?
- Waggle can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce waggle?
- Waggle is pronounced /ˈwaɡəl/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of waggle?
- The past tense of waggle is waggled.
Words near waggle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: waggle (page history and authors); waggle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); waggle (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); waggle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-waggle.wav.
Cite this entry: “waggle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/waggle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.