Waste | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Wāste, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. WASTED; p. pr. & vb. n. WASTING.] [A-S. wēstan, M. H. Ger. wāsten, wüesten, O. H. Ger. wastjan, wōstjan, wuostjan, N. H. Ger. wüsten, verwüsten, D. woesten, verwoesten, allied to Lat. vastare.]

Sense 1. To bring to ruin; to devastate; to desolate; to destroy. “An hideous storm, that threatens to waste all the world.” Spencer.

The Tiber Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds. Dryden.

Sense 2. To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.

Your children shall wander in the wilderness . . . until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. Num. xiv. 33.

O, were I able To waste it all myself, and leave you none! Milton.

Here condemned To waste eternal days in woe and pain. Milton.

Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him. Robertson.

Sense 3. To spread unnecessarily or carelessly; to employ prodigally; to expend without valuable return; to lavish vainly; to squander; to cause to be lost; to destroy by scattering or injury.

The younger son . . . wasted his substance with riotous living. Luke xv. 13.

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Gray.

Sense 4. (Law.) To damage, impair, or injure, as an estate, voluntarily, or by suffering the buildings, fences, &c., to go to decay.

Synonyms—To squander; dissipate; lavish; desolate.

Wāste, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To be diminished; to lose bulk or substance gradually; to be consumed by any cause; to dwindle.

The barrel of meal shall not waste. 1 Kings xvii. 14.

But man dieth, and wasteth away. Job xiv. 10.

Sense 2. Specifically, to procure or sustain a reduction of flesh;—said of a jockey in preparation for a race, &c.

Wāste, a.

adjective

a. [A-S. wēste, O. H. Ger. wast, wōsti, wuosti, O. Sax. wōsti, N. H. Ger. wüst, Lat. vastus. See supra.]

Sense 1. Desolate; devastated; stripped; bare; hence, dreary; dismal. “The dismal situation, waste and wild.” Milton.

His heart became appalled as he gazed forward into the waste darkness of futurity. W. Scott.

Sense 2. Lying unused; unproductive; of no worth; valueless; as, waste land, waste wood, waste paper, and the like.

Not a waste, a needless sound. Till we come to holier ground. Milton.

Sense 3. Lost for want of occupiers; superfluous. “And strangled with her waste fertility.” Milton.

Waste-land, any tract of surface not in a state of cultivation, and producing little or no useful herbage or wood. Brande.

Laid waste, desolated; ruined.

Waste, n.

noun

n. [A-S. wēsten, O. H. Ger. wōsti, wuosti, wōsta, wuosta, wōstinna, wuostinna, M. H. Ger. wuoste, wüeste, N. H. Ger. wüste.]

Sense 1. The act of wasting, devastating, desolating, squandering, lavishing, expending unnecessarily, carelessly, and the like; devastation; consumption; needless destruction; loss without equivalent gain; as, a waste of property, time, labor, words, and the like. “For all this waste of wealth, and loss of blood.” Milton.

He will never, I think, in the way of waste, attempt us again. Shak.

Little wastes in great establishments, constantly occurring, may defeat the energies of a mighty capital. L. Beecher.

Sense 2. That which is wasted or desolate; devastated; uncultivated or wild country; deserted region; unoccupied or unemployed space; dreary void; desert. “The dead waste and middle of the night.” Shak.

All the leafy nation sinks at last. And Vulcan rides in triumph o’er the waste. Dryden.

The gloomy waste of waters which bears his name is his tomb and his monument. Bancroft.

Sense 3. That which is of no value; worthless remnant; refuse; especially, the refuse of cotton, silk, or the like.

Sense 4. (Law.) Spoil, destruction, or injury, done to houses, woods, fences, lands, &c., by a tenant for life or for years, to the prejudice of the heir, or of him in reversion or remainder.

☞ Waste is voluntary, as by pulling down buildings; or permissive, as by suffering them to fall for want of necessary repairs. Whatever does a lasting damage to the freehold is a waste. Blackstone.

Sense 5. (Mining.) A vacant space left in the gobbling, on each side of which the refuse is piled up to support the roof. Watson.

Synonyms—Prodigality; diminution; loss; dissipation; destruction; devastation; havoc; desolation; ravage.