English
waste
Pronunciation Noun

waste

  1. Excess of material, useless by-products or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
  2. Excrement or urine.
    The cage was littered with animal waste
  3. A waste land; 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.
    That was a waste of time
    Her life seemed a waste
  10. Large abundance of something, specifically without it being used.
  11. Gradual loss or decay.
  12. A decaying of the body by disease; wasting away.
  13. (rare) Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; See "to lay waste"
  14. (legal) 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.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Adjective

waste

  1. (now, rare) Uncultivated, uninhabited.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:15.17?rgn=div2;view=fulltext chapter xvij], in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII:
      SOo whanne syr Galahad was departed from the castel of maydens / he rode tyl he came to a waste forest / & there he mette with syre launcelot and syr Percyuale but they knewe hym not / for he was newe desguysed / Ryghte so syr launcelot his fader dressid his spere and brake it vpon syr Galahad
  2. Barren; desert.
    • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, page 255:
      For centuries the shrine at Mecca had been of merely local importance, far outshone by the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem, whose cult Christians had in good measure renewed by their pilgrimage in honour of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, while leaving the actual site of the Jerusalem Temple dishonoured and waste.
  3. Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess.
  4. Superfluous; needless.
  5. Dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
    • 1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. [...] In Three Volumes, volume (please specify ), Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], OCLC 230694662 ↗:
  6. Unfortunate; disappointing.
Translations Translations Translations Verb

waste (wastes, present participle wasting; past and past participle wasted)

  1. (transitive) to devastate, destroy
    • Thou barren ground, whom winter's wrath hath wasted, / Art made a mirror to behold my plight.
    • The Tiber / Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.
  2. (transitive) To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly.
    • Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
    • 1909, Francis Galton, Memories of my life, page 69
      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. .
    We wasted millions of dollars and several years on that project.
  3. (transitive, slang) To kill#Verb|kill; to murder#verb|murder.
  4. (transitive) To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.
    • Bible, Numbers 14:33
      until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness
    • Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him.
  5. (intransitive) Gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.
  6. (intransitive) To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually.
    • Bible, 1 Kings 17:14
      The barrel of meal shall not waste.
  7. (legal) To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations

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