waggle

[ wag-uhl ]

verb (used without object)

, wag·gled, wag·gling.

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.

verb (used with object)

, wag·gled, wag·gling.

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

/ ˈwæɡəl /

verb

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

noun

1. a rapid shaking or wobbling motion

Derived Forms

• ˈwaggly, adjective
• ˈwagglingly, adverb

Other Words From

• waggling·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of waggle¹

First recorded in 1585–95; wag + -le

Word History and Origins

Origin of waggle¹

C16: frequentative of wag ¹

Example Sentences

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

However, until now, it was unclear how the bees gathered around a waggle dancer make sense of the information.

From Science Daily

This enabled them to track the position of the antennae of the surrounding bees in fine detail during each waggle dance -- which are otherwise a blur to the naked human eye.

From Science Daily

Using a computer model that replicates known brain circuits in the bee, the researchers showed that fewer than one hundred neurons are needed to integrate this information and recover the angle and the distance to the food being signalled in a waggle dance.

From Science Daily

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