When a strong foul smell is around you or smoke enters your nose and you begin waving your hands from side to side trying to scatter it away, what verb is used to describe this kind of motion in these types of sentences?:
“I started waving(?) my hands when he began smoking near me because of the smoke.”
I started waving(?) my hands when he began smoking near me because of the smoke.
“He noticed that I knew he farted because I started to swing (?) my hands to drive the smell away.”
He noticed that I knew he farted because I started to swing (?) my hands to drive the smell away.
I tried to find a verb, but none of the examples in dictionaries to which I have access showed the verbs being used for this specific context. Neither flap, nor wave, nor swing, nor sway, nor fan (that seems to fit only when you have a fan in your hands).
The closest match I could get was in one of the definitions proposed by Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, on the website TheFreeDicitonary:
‘swing’: 3. to move (the hand or something held) with an oscillating or rotary movement.
‘swing’: 3. to move (the hand or something held) with an oscillating or rotary movement.
That last definition does not come with an example inserted in the aforesaid context, though.
Help please! _ _ _ _=’(
