Hypertext Webster Gateway: "waning"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Wane \Wane\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Waned}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Waning}.] [OE. wanien, AS. wanian, wonian, from wan, won,
deficient, wanting; akin to D. wan-, G. wahnsinn, insanity,
OHG. wan, wana-, lacking, wan?n to lessen, Icel. vanr
lacking, Goth. vans; cf. Gr. ? bereaved, Skr. ?na wanting,
inferior. ????. Cf. {Want} lack, and {Wanton}.]
1. To be diminished; to decrease; -- contrasted with {wax},
and especially applied to the illuminated part of the
moon.
Like the moon, aye wax ye and wane. Waning moons
their settled periods keep. --Addison.
2. To decline; to fail; to sink.
You saw but sorrow in its waning form. --Dryden.
Land and trade ever will wax and wane together.
--Sir J.
Child.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Waning \Wan"ing\, n.
The act or process of waning, or decreasing.
This earthly moon, the Church, hath fulls and wanings,
and sometimes her eclipses. --Bp. Hall.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
waning
adj : (of the moon) "after full moon comes the waning moon" [ant:
{waxing}]
n : a gradual decrease in magnitude or extent; "the waning of
his enthusiasm was obvious"; "the waxing and waning of
the moon"
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