Definitions for the word "waste" from multiple English dictionaries.
1. a.
Desolate; devastated; stripped; bare; hence, dreary; dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
2. a.
Lying unused; unproductive; worthless; valueless; refuse; rejected; as, waste land; waste paper.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
3. a.
Lost for want of occupiers or use; superfluous.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
4. a.
To bring to ruin; to devastate; to desolate; to destroy.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
5. a.
To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
6. a.
To spend unnecessarily or carelessly; to employ prodigally; to expend without valuable result; to apply to useless purposes; to lavish vainly; to squander; to cause to be lost; to destroy by scattering or injury.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
7. a.
To damage, impair, or injure, as an estate, voluntarily, or by suffering the buildings, fences, etc., to go to decay.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
8. v. i.
To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value, or the like, gradually; to be consumed; to dwindle; to grow less.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
9. v. i.
To procure or sustain a reduction of flesh; -- said of a jockey in preparation for a race, etc.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
10. v.
The act of wasting, or the state of being wasted; a squandering; needless destruction; useless consumption or expenditure; devastation; loss without equivalent gain; gradual loss or decrease, by use, wear, or decay; as, a waste of property, time, labor, words, etc.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
11. v.
That which is wasted or desolate; a devastated, uncultivated, or wild country; a deserted region; an unoccupied or unemployed space; a dreary void; a desert; a wilderness.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
12. v.
That which is of no value; worthless remnants; refuse. Specifically: Remnants of cops, or other refuse resulting from the working of cotton, wool, hemp, and the like, used for wiping machinery, absorbing oil in the axle boxes of railway cars, etc.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
13. v.
Spoil, destruction, or injury, done to houses, woods, fences, lands, etc., by a tenant for life or for years, to the prejudice of the heir, or of him in reversion or remainder.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
14. v.
Old or abandoned workings, whether left as vacant space or filled with refuse.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
15. v.
(-ting) 1 use to no purpose or with inadequate result or extravagantly. 2 fail to use (esp. An opportunity). 3 (often foll. By on) a give (advice etc.) Without effect. B (often in passive) fail to be appreciated or used properly (she was wasted on him; feel wasted in this job). 4 wear gradually away; make or become weak. 5 devastate. adj. 1 superfluous; no longer needed. 2 not inhabited or cultivated. n. 1 act of wasting. 2 waste material. 3 waste region. 4 being used up; diminution by wear. 5 = *waste pipe.
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
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Additional Info
This page provides a list of definitions and meanings for "waste" from various historical English dictionaries. By displaying multiple definitions, you can compare and
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