wave

Universal Words noun, verb noun of water 1 [C] a raised line of water that moves across the surface of the sea, ocean, etc: Huge waves were breaking on the shore. * The wind made little waves on the pond. * The pool has a wave machine (= for making waves). seealsoTIDALWAVE of activity / feeling 2 [C] a sudden increase in a particular activity or feeling: a wave of opposition / protest / violence * a crime wave * There has been a new wave of bombings since the peace talks broke down. * A wave of fear swept over him. * Guilt and horror flooded her in waves. * Three hundred employees lost their jobs in the latest wave of redundancies. * A wave of panic spread through the crowd. seealsoBRAINWAVE, HEATWAVE large number 3 [C] a large number of people or things suddenly moving or appearing somewhere: Wave after wave of aircraft passed overhead. seealsoNEWWAVE movement of arm / hand / body 4 [C] a movement of your arm and hand from side to side: She declined the offer with a wave of her hand. * With a wave and a shout he ran down the road to meet us. * He gave us a wave as the bus drove off. 5 (the wave) [sing.] (AmE) = MEXICANWAVE of heat / sound / light 6 [C] the form that some types of energy such as heat, sound, light, etc. take as they move: radio / sound / ultrasonic waves seealsoAIRWAVES, LONGWAVE, MEDIUMWAVE, MICROWAVE, SHOCKWAVE, SHORTWAVE, SOUNDWAVE in hair 7 [C] if a person's hair has a wave or waves, it is not straight but curls slightly seealsoPERMANENTWAVE sea 8 (the waves) [pl.] (literary) the sea: life on the waves (= life at sea) seealsoWAVY IDIOMS make waves (informal) to be very active in a way that makes people notice you, and that may sometimes cause problems moreatCRESTn., RIDEv. verb move hand / arm 1 ~ (at / to sb)