Phrase guide

wave in

verb · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To try, in public, to attract people into a business establishment.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

Examples

  • Bonnie Powers is the walking, talking hotdog who waves customers in off the street and greets the children with a smile. http://valdostadailytimes.com/archive/x1155920621/Slap-Daddy-s-serves-it-fresh-and-hot
  • While the gentleman in blue waves customers in and out at the rate of one every three and one-third minutes, bank teller Gooding peers up through his oversized periscope and discourses on the hazards of his job. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1955/10/21/money-by-mirror-pthe-smiling-face/
  • By your definition, it's not only the proprietor of the Eden Club who qualifies as a pimp, it's the receptionist at every massage parlor, the security guard in the parking lot outside who waves customers in, etc. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304140439/http://www.internationalsexguide.info/forum/printthread.php?t=1076&pp=15&page=60

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

English wave + in. From Middle English waven, from Old English wafian (“to wave, fluctuate, waver in mind, wonder”), from Proto-Germanic *wabōną, *wabjaną (“to wander, sway”), from Proto-Indo-European *webh- (“to move to and from, wander”).