Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Waive?

\Waive\, n. [See {Waive}, v. t. ] 1. A waif; a castaway. [Obs.] --Donne. 2. (O. Eng. Law) A woman put out of the protection of the law. See {Waive}, v. t., 3 (b), and the Note.
\Waive\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Waived}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Waiving}.] [OE. waiven, weiven, to set aside, remove, OF. weyver, quesver, to waive, of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. veifa to wave, to vibrate, akin to Skr. vip to tremble. Cf. {Vibrate}, {Waif}.] [Written also {wave}.] 1. To relinquish; to give up claim to; not to insist on or claim; to refuse; to forego. He waiveth milk, and flesh, and all. --Chaucer. We absolutely do renounce or waive our own opinions, absolutely yielding to the direction of others. --Barrow. 2. To throw away; to cast off; to reject; to desert. 3. (Law) (a) To throw away; to relinquish voluntarily, as a right which one may enforce if he chooses. (b) (O. Eng. Law) To desert; to abandon. --Burrill. Note: The term was applied to a woman, in the same sense as outlaw to a man. A woman could not be outlawed, in the proper sense of the word, because, according to Bracton, she was never in law, that is, in a frankpledge or decennary; but she might be waived, and held as abandoned. --Burrill.
\Waive\, v. i. To turn aside; to recede. [Obs.] To waive from the word of Solomon. --Chaucer.