in Philosophy, a cavity in the surface of water, or other fluids, with an elevation aside thereof.

The waves of the sea are of two kinds, natural and accidental. The natural waves are those which are exactly proportioned in size to the strength of the wind, whose blowing gives origin to them. The accidental waves are those occasioned by the wind's reaching upon itself by repercussion from hills and mountains, or high shores, and by the washing of the waves themselves, otherwise of the natural kind, against rocks and shoals: all these causes give the waves an elevation, which they can never have in their natural state. For the height of the waves, see SEA.

Stilling WAVES by means of Oil. See SEA.

AVED, in Heraldry, is said of a bordure, or any ordinary or charge, in a coat of arms, having its outlines indented in manner of the rising and falling of waves: it is used to denote, that the first of the family in whose arms it stands, acquired its honours by seafervice.