waggle

American  

[wag-uhl] / ˈwæg əl /

verb (used without object)

waggles, present (3rd person singular) waggled, past participle, past waggling present participle

1. to wobble or shake, especially while in motion.

   The ball waggled slowly to a stop. The leaves of the tree waggled in the wind.

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verb (used with object)

waggles, present (3rd person singular) waggled, past participle, past waggling present participle

1. to move up and down or from side to side in a short, rapid manner; wag.

   to waggle one's head.

2. Golf. to make a waggle with (a golf club).

noun

1. a waggling motion.

2. Golf. a swinging movement made with a golf club to and fro over the ball prior to a stroke.

waggle British  

/ ˈwæɡəl /

verb

1. to move or cause to move with a rapid shaking or wobbling motion

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noun

1. a rapid shaking or wobbling motion

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• waggly
  adjective
• wagglingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• waggling
  present
• waggled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• waggle
  simple
• waggles
  simple
• have waggled
  perfect
• has waggled
  perfect
• am waggling
  progressive
• are waggling
  progressive
• is waggling
  progressive
• have been waggling
  perfect progressive
• has been waggling
  perfect progressive

Past

• waggled
  simple
• had waggled
  perfect
• was waggling
  progressive
• were waggling
  progressive
• had been waggling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will waggle
  simple
• will have waggled
  perfect
• will be waggling
  progressive
• will have been waggling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of waggle

First recorded in 1585–95; wag + -le

Explanation

To move back and forth or up and down very quickly (and a little erratically) is to waggle. I don't recommend that you waggle your arm under your teacher's face to get his attention. Try raising your hand politely instead. This word sounds like a cross between wiggle and wag. Just watch a really excited dog's tail moving and you'll get a sense of waggle's origin — it does derive from wag and its Old English root wagian, "move backwards and forwards." In golf, you waggle a club by swinging it around a bit before hitting the ball. And beekeepers describe the "waggle dance" honeybees perform to communicate information to each other.

Example Sentences

Every day, new people came, some people left, but the constant was Syd, his presence, his waggle, his ability to give unexpected joy.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 2025

He added: "He had a super swing - a no-nonsense swing. One waggle and away it went."

From BBC • Mar. 10, 2025

It has been known for decades that honeybees do so-called waggle dances, in which their movements and orientation on the honeycomb signal the direction and distance to food outside the hive.

From Science Daily • Mar. 25, 2024

Insects are known to be capable of social learning in the wild: the best-known example is the so-called waggle dance used by honeybees to communicate the location and quality of flowers.

From Scientific American • Mar. 7, 2023

Pilots Tonya Skoblikova and Katya Fedotova were able to waggle their wings in farewell as they flew off to find emergency landing places.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein