what wary means exactly in this sentence?

Question

Claude shook my hand and sat down in the same movement. His hand was warm and firm; his face stayed cold and firm. It was one of those square well-fed French faces that aren't giving anything away; he had no more expression than a stopped clock. But his movements were balanced and wary.

I do not understand the meaning of wary. People mean hesitate when they say wary. But when it is an adjective for movement, what does it exactly mean? waggling.

thanks to Caicos Turkey.

What is N. B.? Could you please spell it out for me?
It sounds as P. S, but I am also not sure about the full spelling of P. S.

thanks to Tina UM.

This paragraphy is from a novel written by Gavin Lyall, named The Most Dangerous Game. Old book, written in 1964

Answer 1

"Wary" is "careful."

A person who is wary is extremely aware of his/her surroundings, moves with precision and care.

A thief sneaking into a house is wary -- stopping to listen for anybody moving around, making sure he doesn't upset anything, make any noise or leave any evidence behind.

EDIT:
n.b.: A standard abbreviation for "nota bene" which means "note well" in Latin. It is usually used as an editorial note when the author wants to emphasize or explain something.
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Answer 2

Wary means being careful, taking precautions, making extra sure because there is a chance of things going wrong. I associate wary movements with a certain facial expression (here Claude is probably keeping his eyes on the person as he shakes hands and not smiling as he does so, as smiling involves relaxation) and sometimes with glancing cautiously around one before committing oneself to the next stage of whatever is happening. As Claude's movements are also balanced, he is probably moving very slowly and with elaborate care.

N.B. the word "beware" really means: "be wary".

Answer 3

I am hoping someone who is profoundly deaf can answer this from personal experience. All I can contribute is that there is no reason for deaf people NOT to think in Sign, since it is known to function in the same way as any other language in the sense of creating neural pathways etc (and, like any other language, if learnt young when one is most receptive, it enables the learning of a further language by building on the structural understandings). Oliver Sacks' book "Seeing Voices" goes into this in a very readable way. In a way, I think the title might answer your question...... but it's a very long time since I read it and can't remember anything about the specific issue of thinking in Sign.

Answer 4

Wary means cautious, rather than hesitant. So if your movements are wary it means you're moving in a way that suggests you want to be ready for whatever is going to happen.

Answer 5

Wary means expectation of something, usually trouble, wary movements would suggest he is anxious not to give anything away or to put himself in a vulnerable position.

Answer 6

Here, wary means "watchful, cautious, alert." Imagine that someone is watching for hidden danger.

Answer 7

Cautious.

Answer 8

wary is a verb that comes from the pronoun aware - so wary is to be conscious about the situation in a concerned fashion...

by the way the paragraph text was brilliant to read...

Answer 9

To me it means cautious, guarded, careful.

Answer 10

NB stands for 'nota bene' - it's Latin and means literally 'note well' - more properly interpreted as 'take note'.