waste

English Online Dictionary. What means waste‎? What does waste mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: wāst, IPA^(key): /weɪst/
• Homophone: waist
• Rhymes: -eɪst

Etymology 1

From Middle English wast, waste (“a waste”, noun), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wast, waste (“a waste”), from Frankish *wōstī (“a waste”), from Proto-Germanic *wōstaz, *wōstuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty, wasted”).

Noun

waste (countable and uncountable, plural wastes)

1. Excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
2. Excrement or urine.

3. A wasteland; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness or desert.
4. A place that has been laid waste or destroyed.
5. A large tract of uncultivated land.
6. (historical) The part of the land of a manor (of whatever size) not used for cultivation or grazing, nowadays treated as common land.
7. A vast expanse of water.
8. A disused mine or part of one.
9. The action or progress of wasting; extravagant consumption or ineffectual use.
10. Large abundance of something, specifically without it being used.
11. Gradual loss or decay.
12. A decaying of the body by disease; atrophy; wasting away.
13. (rare) Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; see "to lay waste".
14. (law) A cause of action which may be brought by the owner of a future interest in property against the current owner of that property to prevent the current owner from degrading the value or character of the property, either intentionally or through neglect.
15. (geology) Material derived by mechanical and chemical erosion from the land, carried by streams to the sea.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Japanese: ウエス (uesu)
• → Wu: 違司 / 违司 (we⁶-sy¹)

Translations

Adjective

waste (comparative more waste, superlative most waste)

1. (MTE, slang, derogatory) Useless and contemptible.

Derived terms

References

Etymology 2

From Middle English wast, waste (“waste”, adjective), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wast (“waste”), from Frankish *wōstī (“waste, empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty, wasted”). Cognate with Old High German wuosti, wuasti (“waste, empty”), German wüst, Old Saxon wōsti (“desolate”), Old English wēste (“waste, barren, desolate, empty”).

Adjective

waste (comparative more waste, superlative most waste)

1. (now rare) Uncultivated, uninhabited.
2. Barren; desert; empty.
3. Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess.
4. Superfluous; needless.
5. Dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
6. Unfortunate; disappointing. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes

Same meanings as wasted.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English wasten (“to waste, lay waste”), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French waster (“to waste, devastate”) (compare also the variant gaster and French gâter from a related Old French word); the Anglo-Norman form waster was either from Frankish *wōstijan (“to waste”), from Proto-Indo-European *wāsto- (“empty, wasted”), or alternatively from Latin vastāre and influenced by the Frankish; the English word was assisted by similarity to native Middle English westen ("to waste"; > English weest). Cognate with Old High German wuostan, wuastan, wuostjan (“to waste”) (Modern German wüsten), Old English wēstan (“to lay waste, ravage”).

Displaced native Old English essian and strȳndan. Largely overtook Old English forspillan and weste.

Verb

waste (third-person singular simple present wastes, present participle wasting, simple past and past participle wasted)

2. (transitive) To devastate; to destroy.
3. (transitive) To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly.
4. (transitive, slang) To kill; to murder.
5. (transitive) To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to deteriorate; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.
6. (intransitive) To gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.
7. (intransitive) To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually.
8. (law) To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (slang, to kill or murder): cack, top, duppy (see also Thesaurus:kill)

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Waste on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Waste in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Sweat, Weast, awest, swate, sweat, tawse, wetas

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋɑs.tə/

Verb

waste

1. inflection of wassen:
   1. singular past indicative
   2. (dated or formal) singular past subjunctive

Middle English

Etymology 1

Adjective

waste

1. Alternative form of wast (“waste (adjective)”)
2. Inflection of wast (“waste (adjective)”):
   1. weak singular
   2. strong/weak plural

Etymology 2

Noun

waste

1. Alternative form of wast (“waste (noun)”)

Etymology 3

Adjective

waste

1. Alternative form of wast (“waist”)

Etymology 4

Verb

waste

1. Alternative form of wast (verb form)

Etymology 5

Verb

waste

1. Alternative form of wasten

Tocharian B

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

waste ?

1. refuge, sanctuary

West Flemish

Etymology

Noun derived from the verb wassen (“to wash”)

Noun

waste f

1. laundry, clothes that need to be washed, or just have been washed.