wavyadj.n.

1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares H 3 b The waters..putting all theyr wauy shoulders together, bare the whole shole of them [sc. the dead carcases] before them.

1685 J. Dryden tr. Lucretius i, in Sylvæ 52 For thee the Ocean smiles, and smooths her wavy breast.

1712 W. Broome tr. Homer Iliad III. xv. 208 They..Travers'd the Mountains, and the Wavy Main.

1816 J. N. Brewer Beauties Eng. & Wales X. iv. 28 (note) In this fine and bold reach the waters of the Thames are more subject to wavy roughness, than in any other part west of the ancient bridge of London.

1887 W. Morris tr. Homer Odyssey I. xi. 199 Then under the wavy deep he dived adown once more.

1725 W. Broome in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey III. xii. 256 Strain ev'ry nerve, and bid the vessel fly. If from yon justling rocks and wavy war Jove safety grants; he grants it to your care.

c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme lxviii. 32 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 79 [The dove] That glides with feathered Oare through wauy sky.

1620 Abp. J. Williams Serm. Apparell 5 The wavie Curtaines of the Ayre about us.

1796 S. T. Coleridge Relig. Musings in Poems Var. Subj. 156 Then o'er the wild and wavy chaos rush And tame th' outrageous mass.

1844 A. W. Kinglake Eothen xvii. 257 The fair, wavy cloud that fled in the morning.

1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 203 Jerky, interrupted, or wavy breathing.

1913 W. A. N. Dorland Illustr. Med. Dict. (ed. 7) at Respiration Wavy respiration.

1708 J. Philips Cyder i. 61 Where full-ear'd Sheaves of Rye Grow wavy on the Tilth.

1709 M. Prior Carmen Seculare (new ed.) in Poems Several Occasions 156 Let her glad Vallies smile with wavy Corn.

1816 J. Keats I stood Tip-toe 73 Where swarms of minnows show their little heads, Staying their wavy bodies 'gainst the streams.

1830 Ld. Tennyson Dying Swan in Poems 103 The wavy swell of the soughing reeds.

1884 Manch. Examiner 30 Sept. 5/7 This rolling sea of wavy grass.

1836 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 39 439 [She] spread out her white canvass to the freshening breeze, while winging her wavy way over the blue Atlantic.

1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xxxi. 421 An active wavy movement [of the Aurora], dissipating itself into barely-perceptible cirrhus.

1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany xii. 201 Representing the serpent's teeth, or his wavy motion, or his circular figure.

a1701 H. Maundrell Journey Aleppo to Jerusalem (1703) 6 The sides of this Fissure are firm and solid Rock, perpendicular and smooth, only seeming to ly in a wavy form all down, as it were to comply with the motion of the Water.

1725 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. iv. 202 Such wavy ringlets o'er his shoulders flow.

1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture I. 47 The Wall..must be..exactly even.., so as not in any part to swell out or sink in, or to be wavy.

1738 J. Logan Let. in S. P. Rigaud & S. J. Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men 17th Cent. (1841) (modernized text) I. 339 A straight rod or line, viewed at some little distance through the wavy glass of a window.

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 385 If these [Damascus bars] be drawn in length, the veins will be longitudinal;..if they be made wavy in the two directions, undulated veins will be produced like those in the oriental damascus.

1846 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. in Wks. I. 340/2 Byron dealt chiefly in felt and furbelow, wavy Damascus daggers, and pocket pistols studded with paste.

1858 G. MacDonald Phantastes 6 Her dark hair flowed behind, wavy but uncurled.

1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 195 Wavy Stitch, a raised Couching.

1888 C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 154 Wavy rule, brass rule made with an undulating face.

1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 147 Between these streaks and the hinder margin a third streak wavy, brown, terminated by a paler colour.

1857 A. Gray First Lessons Bot. (1866) 62 Leaves are said to be..Repand, undulate, or wavy, when the margin of the leaf forms a wavy line, bending slightly inwards and outwards in succession.

1859 A. Pratt Brit. Grasses & Sedges 74 Aira flexuosa (Wavy Hair-grass).

1859 A. Pratt Brit. Grasses & Sedges 92 Poa laxa (Wavy Meadow-grass).

1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot.

1562 G. Legh Accedens of Armory 134 b He beareth party per crosse wauey Sable, and Argent.

1632 Guillim's Display of Heraldrie (ed. 2) ii. v. 69 He beareth, Argent, a Bend, Wauey, Sable... This is termed wauey, or waued, in respect it beareth a Representation of the Swelling Waue or Billowe of the Sea.

1722 A. Nisbet Syst. Heraldry I. vi. 22 Wavey or Waved, is said of a Line or Lines that are formed after the Waves of the Sea, as parted per Fess Wavey in the Arms of Drummond of Concraig, and the Lines which form the Barrs waved in the Arms of the Earl of Perth, which signifies, that the Bearer got his Arms for Services done at Sea.

1864 C. Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. (ed. 3) xxi. 266 Per fesse arg. and barry wavy az.

1890 A. Conan Doyle White Company xviii ‘How read you this..?’ ‘Argent and azure, a barry wavy of six.’

1884 Live Stock Jrnl. 28 Nov. 512/2 The Retrievers were good,..the curly Doctor having to give place to the wavy Harvester in Dogs.

1887 Field 1 Oct. Advt. p. xvi/2 Champion Zelstone (Wavy Retriever).