wink 'signal by winking' wave 'signal with the hands or nod' beckon 'signal with the hands or nod'
nod squint clap wink shrug blink ?point wave
motion 'COD: direct (someone) with a gesture.' gesture 'COD: make a gesture.' wave 'COD: move one's hand to and fro in greeting or as a signal' beckon 'COD: make a gesture to encourage or instruct someone to approach or follow' nod 'FN: lower and raise one's head slightly and briefly to convey a message' signal 'COD: instruct or indicate by means of a signal.' gesticulate 'COD: gesture dramatically in place of or to emphasize speech'
She winked at him She waved to her friends He waved his hand hospitably
Examples from VerbNet
Linda winked. His brother nodded vigorous assent. Linda winked her eye. Linda winked in agreement. Linda winked her eye in agreement. Linda winked her agreement. Linda winked at the audience. Linda waved her arms at the audience.
Examples from SemCor
Holden waved a hand at the empty street. The old_man beckoned with one finger and Clayton went_forward to him. The women said they had seen him wave an exhausted farewell; but he might have been shooing_away the fleas that hopped from his yellow dog onto him. Religion at its best is out in_front, ever beckoning and leading_on, and, as Lippman put it,`` mobilizing all man 's scattered energies in one triumphant sense of his own infinite importance''. With a lordly and generous gesture, the discoverer stood_up and beckoned to the closest of his fellows. The latter, thanking her for the coffee, had winked and muttered,`` Sure_'_nuff, honey''. Turning his back, Curt crossed to the stall, reached over to untie the buckskin 's halter rope, and waved his hand in the animal 's face. Pa was on his side, looking at me, his eyes winking, the hand that had hit me a fist in the pillow. But Mr._Podger and the driver of the sports_car waved at each other. He waved at Fox to cut_off the finale introduction. In_fact, it was not until the King of Spain had visited at Pickfair that Mary and Doug were beckoned to cross the sacred barriers which separate Los_Angeles and Pasadena from the hoi-polloi. I think I 've taken it about fifty times already''! winking at Joel 's look of shock. In her first song she waved away one encroaching photographer who dared approach the throne unbidden and thereafter the boys with the cameras had_to unsheathe their 300 mm. lenses and shoot at extreme range. Now you go outside and beckon me when it 's safe''. `` Take hands, this urgent visage beckons us''. `` For God 's sake'', Mike said, waving the manager away. The Lady_Da, naked in the dusty plain, waved a hospitable hand and showed that there was a place for him to sit beside her. I waved with discretion and moderation to the vague golden faces fading through rising dust and the distortions of the back window glass. And she would wink and throw kisses. Already the city was filled with Barbudos, the bearded, war-dirty Revolutionaries, carrying carbines, waving to the crowds that lined the Prado. The hall was empty and Alex beckoned; they climbed the stairs which creaked, very_loudly to their sensitive ears, and reached the next floor. Then, she was back on her feet, winking and smiling that enormous smile( she had lots of wonderful big teeth that you never would have suspected she had when she was not smiling). He waved his arm around at the. The bartender winked back at him and palmed the bill. `` Imagine being able to laugh and wink when you 're like the top part of that picture_frame at home'', one of them said. Now he saw that the approaching car was painted white, and he began to wave his arms frantically. The attendant waved me on. They both laughed and winked back. He beckoned to her from the door and she slipped quietly outside. They both tried to keep smiling and winking for a long_time, but it made their lips and eyelids tremble. There being no bridge, the master had to stop at the shore; but his companion crossed the river walking on the water and beckoned to Hwang_Pah to follow him. She held herself that way and turned her head towards them and laughed and winked.