wag
part of speech
verb (wag, wags, wagged, wagging); noun (a wag — a wave of the tail; a joker, old-fashioned)
meaning for a pupil
1) To move quickly from side to side or up and down, especially a dog's tail. tree →
2) To shake a finger at someone to show you disagree. tree →
3) "Wag" or "wag school" means skip school without permission (Australian and New Zealand slang). tree →
sense in the lessons
In animal safety lessons, a wagging tail does not always mean a dog is friendly; a stiff or high wag can mean it is nervous or angry, so ask the owner before patting. In stories, a dog's wagging tail shows happiness. Phrases: wag its tail, tongues wag (people gossip), wag a finger.
examples
- The puppy wagged its tail when I came home. tree →
- A wagging tail doesn't always mean a happy dog. tree →
- Grandma wagged her finger at me. tree →
- Tongues will wag if you do that. tree →
- The dog's whole body wagged with joy. tree →
- Always ask before you pat a dog. tree →
note
Regular verb, double g: wagged, wagging. "Tongues wag" means people gossip. Safety: read the whole dog — ears, body and tail — not just the wag.
In the corpora
- A loose wide tail wag usually means a happy dog, but a stiff high wag can mean the dog is tense.
- A tail held high and stiff, even if it wags, can mean the dog is tense or excited, not friendly.
- On Chloe's third visit, the lurcher sniffs her shoe and gives one tiny wag.
- A frightened animal's trust grows in small signs, like a sniff or a tiny wag, often over weeks or months.
- Always ask the owner before touching any dog, even one that is wagging; a wagging tail does not always mean friendly.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «wag» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.