Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A thin supple rod, twig, or stick.
  • noun A slender rod carried as a symbol of office in a procession; a scepter.
  • noun Music A conductor's baton.
  • noun A stick or baton used by a magician, conjurer, or diviner.
  • noun A pipelike attachment that lengthens the handle of a device or tool.
  • noun A handheld electronic device, often shaped like a rod, that is used for security purposes to detect metal.
  • noun Sports A narrow slat used as an archery target.
  • transitive verb To scan (a person, for example) with an electronic wand.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A slender stick; a rod.
  • noun A twig; a bough.
  • noun A rod, or staff having some special use or character. Specifically
  • noun A rod used by conjurers or diviners.
  • noun A small baton which forms part of the insignia of the messenger of a court of justice in Scotland, and which he must exhibit before executing a caption: called more fully wand of peace.
  • noun The baton used by a musical con ductor.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A small stick; a rod; a verge.
  • noun A staff of authority.
  • noun A rod used by conjurers, diviners, magicians, etc.
  • noun (Scots Law) a wand, or staff, carried by the messenger of a court, which he breaks when deforced (that is, hindered from executing process), as a symbol of the deforcement, and protest for remedy of law.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A stick or staff.
  • noun by extension An instrument shaped like a stick or staff such as a curling wand.
  • noun a magic wand.
  • noun A branch or stalk, especially of willow.
  • noun A suit of the minor arcana in tarot, or a card of that suit.
  • verb transitive To scan (e.g. a passenger at an airport) with a metal detector.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a thin tapered rod used by a conductor to lead an orchestra or choir
  • noun a ceremonial or emblematic staff
  • noun a thin supple twig or rod
  • noun a rod used by a magician or water diviner

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old Norse vöndr.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old Norse vǫndr ("switch, twig"). Compare Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐍃 (wandus, "rod").

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Examples

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  • German for 'wall' (internal, rather than external).

    January 9, 2008