wigwag

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • v wigwag signal by or as if by a flag or light waved according to a code
    • v wigwag send a signal by waving a flag or a light according to a certain code
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • n Wigwag Act or art of wigwagging; a message wigwagged; -- chiefly attributive; as, the wigwag code.
    • v. t. & i Wigwag To move to and fro, to wag.
    • v. i Wigwag (Naut) To signal by means of a flag waved from side to side according to a code adopted for the purpose.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • wigwag To move to and fro; specifically, to signal by movements of flags.
    • wigwag Writhing, wriggling, or twisting.
    • n wigwag A rubbing instrument used by watchmakers. It is attached by a crank to a wheel of a lathe, which gives it a longitudinal movement of reciprocation.
    • n wigwag Signaling by the movements of flags: as, to practise the wigwag.
    • wigwag To and fro; with wiggling motion: as, to go wigwag back and forth.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • v.i Wigwag wig′wag to twist about, to signal by means of flags
    • adj Wigwag twisting
    • adv Wigwag to and fro
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
See Wigwag (v. t. & i.)

Usage

In literature:

Thus encouraged, Snooky's two hands wigwagged frantically above the pickets.
"One Basket" by Edna Ferber
Thus encouraged, Snooky's two hands wigwagged frantically above the pickets.
"Cheerful--By Request" by Edna Ferber
In the daytime, when ships are within easy distance, wigwagging is commonly used.
"A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee"" by Russell Doubleday
Usually it was the wigwag that he used.
"Pee-wee Harris on the Trail" by Percy Keese Fitzhugh
Reddy stood by him with his wigwag flag to answer back.
"The Scientific American Boy" by A. Russell (Alexander Russell) Bond
Messages were wigwagged from ship to ship.
"Navy Boys Behind the Big Guns" by Halsey Davidson
The relief of the boys at the information conveyed by the wigwag signals from the shore may well be imagined.
"Boy Scouts in the Philippines" by G. Harvey Ralphson
I told Mike what you wrote to him, and he wigwagged a message of love back to you with his tail.
"'Smiles'" by Eliot H. Robinson
I'll wigwag from the porch, Bobbie.
"Glory of Youth" by Temple Bailey
Already they were wigwagging the news of the discovery.
"The Boy Scout Treasure Hunters" by Charles Henry Lerrigo
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