[poss. from gestures characteristic of stage magicians]
1. v. To gloss over a complex point; to distract a listener; to
support a (possibly actually valid) point with blatantly faulty
logic.
2. n. The act of handwaving. "Boy, what a handwave!"
If someone starts a sentence with "Clearly..." or "Obviously..." or
"It is self-evident that...", it is a good bet he is about to
handwave (alternatively, use of these constructions in a sarcastic
tone before a paraphrase of someone else's argument suggests that it
is a handwave). The theory behind this term is that if you wave your
hands at the right moment, the listener may be sufficiently
distracted to not notice that what you have said is {bogus}. Failing
that, if a listener does object, you might try to dismiss the
objection with a wave of your hand.
The use of this word is often accompanied by gestures: both hands up,
palms forward, swinging the hands in a vertical plane pivoting at the
elbows and/or shoulders (depending on the magnitude of the handwave);
alternatively, holding the forearms in one position while rotating
the hands at the wrist to make them flutter. In context, the gestures
alone can suffice as a remark; if a speaker makes an outrageously
unsupported assumption, you might simply wave your hands in this way,
as an accusation, far more eloquent than words could express, that
his logic is faulty.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {cosmic rays}{exercise, left as an}{MEGO}{tick}]