waste
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: wāst
ipa: /weɪst/
homophone: waist
rhymes: -eɪst
Forms: form: wastes
form: wasting
form: wasted
form: wasted
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: waste
form: waste
form: wasted
form: waste
form: wastest
form: wasted
form: wastedst
form: wastes
form: wasteth
form: wasted
form: waste
form: wasted
form: waste
form: wasted
form: waste
form: -
form: wasting
form: wasted
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: Thou barrein ground, whome winters wrath hath wasted, / Art made a myrrour to behold my plight.
ref: 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Ianuarie. Aegloga Prima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:
text: The Tiber / Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “Aeneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To devastate; to destroy.
examples: text: We wasted millions of dollars and several years on that project.
text: I like this place, / And willingly could waste my time in it.
ref: c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi], lines 812–813:
text: Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
ref: 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC:
text: A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails.[…]This set-up solves several problems […]. Stopping high-speed trains wastes energy and time, so why not simply slow them down enough for a moving platform to pull alongside?
ref: 2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
text: E. Kay (1822-1897), afterwards Lord Justice of Appeal, had rooms on the same staircase as myself, and we wasted a great deal of time together, both in term and in my second summer vacation. .
ref: 1909, Francis Galton, Memories of my life, page 69:
glosses: To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly; to dissipate.
glosses: To kill; to murder.
examples: text: until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 14:33:
text: Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him.
ref: 1769, William Robertson, The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] W. and W. Strahan, for W[illiam] Strahan, T[homas] Cadell, […]; and J. Balfour, […], →OCLC:
glosses: 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.
glosses: To gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.
examples: text: […]The barrell of meale shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oile faile, vntill the day that the Lord sendeth raine vpon the earth.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 17:14:
glosses: To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually.
topics: law
glosses: To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.
Synonyms: sense: to kill or murder
word: cack
word: top
english: see also Thesaurus:kill
translation: see also Thesaurus:kill
word: duppy
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: a mind is a terrible thing to waste
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: get wasted
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: never waste a crisis
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: time's a-wasting
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: wastage
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: waste away
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: waste breath
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: waster
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: wastery
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: wastethrift
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: waste-time
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: waste time
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: wastewater
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: wastingly
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: wastrel
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: wasty
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: wide-wasting
sense: Terms derived from waste (verb)
word: youth is wasted on the young
Related terms: Waste in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)