waste 
"That sorceress, my brother's wife," cried Riclitird, 
"and others with her — see how tliey have waited my body 
by their sorcery and witclicraft ! " And, as he spoke, he 
bared his left arm and showed it to tlie council, shrunk 
and withered. J. Gairdner, Richard III., ii. 
4. To expend without adequate return ; spend 
uselessly, vainly, or foolishly; employ or use 
lavishly, prodigally, improvidently, or care- 
lessly; squander; throw away. 
Thof siche gadlyn.cies be grevede, it greves me bot lyttille ! 
Thay wyne no wirchipe of uie, l)ot wasti/g theire takle ! 
Murte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2444. 
Mary, to testify the largeness of her affection, seemed 
to waate away a gift upon him. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vii. 22. 
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me. 
Shak., Rich. II., v. 5. 49. 
Wattte the solitary day 
In plucking from yon feu the reed, 
And watching it float dowTi the Tweed. 
Scott, Marmion, i., Int 
So nuich fluency and self-possession should not be wasted 
entirely on private occasions. 
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, vi. 2. 
I that have ivasted here health, wealth, and tune. 
And talents, I — you know it — I will not boast ; 
Dismiss me. Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
To waste time. See (fmei .— Wasted OflF, noting a stone 
of wliich the surfaces have been evened by the use of a 
pick or point. See u-astinff, 2. = Syn. 1. To ravage, pillage, 
plunder, strip. — 4. To dissipate, fritter away. 
II. intrans. To be consumed or grow gradu- 
ally less in bulk, substance, strength, value, or 
the like ; wear or pine away ; decay or diminish 
gradually; dwindle. 
Man dieth, and wasteth away. Job xiv. 10. 
Shall I, wasting in despair. 
Die because a woman 's fair? 
Wither, The Sheplierd's Resolution. 
I will not argue the matter. Time wastes too fast. 
Sterne, Ti-istram Shandy, ix. 8. 
waste'-'t, «. An old spelling of loaist. 
waste'* (wast), v. t. ; pret. and pp. wasted, ppr. 
wasting. [Cf. waster^, a cudgel.] To cudgel. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
waste-basket (wast'bas"ket), )(. A basket used 
to receive rejected papers, useless scraps of pa- 
per, and other waste material. 
waste-board (wast'bord), u. Same as wash- 
board. 2. 
waste-book (wast'biik), «. A day-book. See 
hookkcepitiij. 
waste-card (wast'kiird), n. A machine for 
working up and carding the waste, fluff, etc., 
which collect on the floor of a factory. E. H. 
Kni</ht. 
waste-duster (wast'dus"ter), n. Amachine for 
cleansing factory-waste, it consists of a series of 
beatei-a which rotate above a wire grating in which the 
waste is retained, while the dust and impurities fall 
through. E. II. Knight. 
wasteful (wast'ful), a. [< wa.ite'^ + -fid.} 1. 
Destructive ; devastating ; wasting. 
His gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature 
For ruin's wasteful entrance. 
Shak., Macbeth, ii. 3. 120. 
See, with what heat these dugs of hell advance 
To waste and havoc yonder world, which I 
So fair and good created, and had still 
Kept in tliat state, had not the folly of man 
Let iTi these wasteful furies. Milton, P. L., x. 620. 
2. Producing or involving waste ; occasioning 
serious loss or damage ; ruinous. 
With taper-light 
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, 
Is waste/id and ridiculous excess. 
Shak., K. John, iv. 2. 16. 
These days of high prices and wasteful taxation. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 277. 
Worn 
From wasteful living. 
Tennyson, Ancient Sage. 
3. Extravagant or lavish ; profuse to excess ; 
prodigal ; squandering : as, a wasteful person. 
How has kind Heaven adorned the happy land. 
And scattered blessings with a wasteful hand ! 
Addison, Letter from Italy. 
Four summers coined their golden light in leaves, 
Four wasteful autumns Jiung them to the gale. 
0. W. Holmes, For the Conuuenioration .Services, Cam- 
[bridge, July 21, 1885. 
4t. Uninhabited; desolate; waste. 
In wiidernesse aiul wastfull deserts strayd. 
Spenser, F. Q., L iii. 3. 
=ija. 2 and 3. Thriftless, unthrifty. — 3. Lavish, Pro- 
fuse, etc. See extrarayant. 
wastefully (wast'ful-i), adv. In a wasteful 
manner; lavishly; prodigally. 
Her lavish hand is wastefully profuse. 
Dryden, Anrengzebe, iii. 1. 
wastefulness (wast'fiil-ne.s), n. The state or 
character of being wasteful ; lavishness; prodi- 
gality. 
6834 
Those by their riot and wasteful nesse be Inu-tfull to a 
commou-weale. Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 175. 
waste-gate (wast'gat), ». A gate for letting 
the water of a dam or pond pass off. 
waste-goodt (wast'giid), n. [< wasted + obj. 
good.1 A prodigal; a spendthrift. 
A young heyre, or cockney, that is his mothers darling, 
if hee haue playde the waste-good at the Innes of the 
Court, . . . falles in a quarrelling humor with his for- 
tune, because she made him not king of the Indies. 
Nanhe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 18. 
wastelt (was'tel), n. [< ME. wastel, < OF. 
wastel, gastel, gasteau, a cake, bread, pastry, 
P. gdteau (Wall, wastiau) (Picard wastel = Pr. 
gastal), a cake, < MHG. wastel, a cake.] 1. A 
cake. 
Thow hast no good grounde to gete the with a wastel. 
But if it were vith thi tonge or ellis with thi two hondes. 
Piers Plowman (B), v. 293. 
2. In her., a bearing representing a round 
cake. 
wastel-breadt (was'tel -bred), n. The finest 
quality of white bread ; bread made of the finest 
flour. 
Of sraale houndes had she, that she fedde 
With rested flesh, or milk, and wastel-breed. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 147. 
Mysie was a dark-eyed laughter-loving wench, with 
cherry-cheeks, and a skin as white as her father's flnest 
bolted flour, out of which was made the Abbot's own 
wastel'bread. Scott, Monastery, xiii. 
wastel-caket (was'tel-kak), ti. Same as wastel. 
Scott. 
wasteless (wast'les),o. [(waste'^-i- -less.} That 
cannot be wasted, consumed, or exhausted; in- 
exhaustible. 
Those powers above, . . . 
That from their wasteless treasures heap rewards. 
May, The Heir, iv. 
wastent (was'ten), II. [< ME. wastine, wasteijii, 
< OF. wastine, guastine, waste, desert (cf. AS. 
westen = OS. wostitn = 0H6. wuosti, a desert, 
waste, wilderness) : see waste^.} A waste ; a 
desert. 
A gode man and rygt certeyn 
Dwelled besyde that wasUyn. 
MS. Harl. 1701, f. 12. (BalUwell.) 
She, of nought affrayd. 
Through woods and wastnes wide him daily sought 
Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 3. 
wasteness (wast'nes), n. The state of being 
waste or desolate ; desolation. ■ 
That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and dis- 
tress, a day of wasteness. Zeph. i. 15. 
waste-pallet (wast'pal'et), n. See pallet^, 5. 
waste-picker (wast'pik'''er), n. Same as rag- 
jiicker, 1. 
waste-pipe (wast'pip), «. A pipe for conveying 
away waste water, etc. ; an overflow-pipe. See 
wastc-stcam pipe, under «»a«fel, a. 
waste-pre'venter (wast' pre -ven^ter), 11. In 
phimliiiig, a device for controlling the supply 
and flow of a water-tank. It combines an outlet- 
v.alve and a ball-valve on the inlet-pipe — a single lever 
operated by a chain so controlling both valves that no 
more water enters the tank than is drawn out. 
waster! (wiis'ter), n. [< ME. wastour, wastor, 
wastoiire, wastowre, < OF. wastour, wastitr, gas- 
teor, gastour, gasteiir, a '(vaster, < waster, waste : 
see wasted, c] 1. One •who or that which 
wastes, squanders, or consumes extravagantly 
or uselessly ; a prodigal ; a squanderer. 
A chidestere or wastour of thy good. 
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 291. 
He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him 
that is a great uuster. Prov. xviii. 9. 
He left a vast estate to his son, S"" P'rancis (I thinke ten 
thousand pounds per annum) ; he lived like a hog, but his 
sonue John was a great waster. 
Aubrey, Lives (John Popham). 
Ye will think I am turned waster, for I wear clean hose 
and shoon every day. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxviii. 
2t. A lawless, thieving vagabond. 
The statute of Edw. III. (an. reg. 5, c. xiv.) specifies 
"divers manslaughters, felonies, and robberies done by 
people that be called Roberdesmen, Wastours, atul Draw- 
lacches." Note to Piers Plouman (C), i. 45. 
3. An excrescence in the snuff of a candle 
which causes it to waste: otherwise called a 
thief. — 4. That which is wasted or spoiled; an 
article damaged or spoiled in course of making. 
Specifically — (a) In the industrial arts, a vessel or other 
object badly cast, badly fired, or in any way defective or 
useless, or fit only to be reraelted. 
Ha<i I not taken these precautions, which some are apt 
to think too nmch trouble, I should have had many a 
waster. G. Ede, in Campin's Mech. Engineering, p. 355. 
(6) pi. Tin-plates (sheet-iron tinned) deficient in weight, 
or otherwise inferior in quality, and which are sorted out 
from the "primes." They are used for various purposes 
which do not require the l)est quality of stock. 
wasty 
Some of the sheets thus thrown out [as being defective] 
are called menders or returns, and are sent back for repair 
to the tin-house ; others are called wasters, for which there 
is always a market at a reduction in price ; the worst are 
called waster waste, and are used up for cases or sent away 
to Birmingham. W. II. Flower, Hist, of Tin, p. 173. 
waster' (was'ter), V. t. [< waster^, n.] To 
waste; squander. Gait. [Scotch.] 
waster'-^t (was'ter), n. [Origin obscure; ef. 
wasted, and dial, wastle, a twig.] 1. A wooden 
sword formerly used for practice by the com- 
mon people. 
As with wooden wasters men learn to play at the sharp, 
so practice in times of peace makes ready for the time of 
war. hev. T. Adams, Works, L 42. 
2. Same as leister. [Scotch.] 
This chase, in which the fish is pursued and struck with 
barbed spears, or a sort of long-shafted trident called a 
waster, is nmch practised at the mouth of the Esk, and iu 
the other salmon rivers of Scotland. 
Scott, Guy Mannering, ixvL 
To play at wasterst, to practise fencing ; fence with 
cudgels or with wooden or blunt swords. 
Thou'rt a craven, I warrant thee; thou would'st be loth 
to play half a dozen venies at wasters with a good fellow 
for a broken head. Beau, and Ft., Philaster, iv. 3. 
They that play at wasters exercise themselves by a few 
cudgels how to avoid an enemy's blows. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 375. 
wastemt, ". [ME., var. of wasten, after wil- 
dern.} A waste or desert place. 
Ffore wolvez, and whilde sywnne, and wykkyde bestez, 
Walkede in that wastemne, wathes to seehe. 
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), \. 2934. 
wastery, «. and a. See wastry. 
wastethriftt (wast'thrift), «. [< wasted + obj. 
thrift.} A spendthrift. 
Thou art a wastethrift, and art run away from thy mas- 
ter that loved thee well. 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, i. 4. 
A wastethrift, a common surfeiter, and, to conclude, a 
beggar. Middleton, Trick to Catch the Old One, ii. i. 
waste-trap (wast'trap), ». A trap so de\ised 
as to allow surplus water to escape ■without 
permitting air to pass up in the opposite di- 
rection. E. H. Knight. 
wasteway (wast'wa), n. A passage for waste 
water. 
waste-weir (wast'wer), n. A cut made through 
the side of a canal, reservoir, etc., for carrying 
off surplus water. 
waste- well (wast'wel), «. See absorbing-well, 
under absorb. 
wasting (was'ting), h. [< ME. wastyiige; ver- 
bal n. of wasted, c] 1. In med., atrophy. — 
2. In stone-cutting, the process or operation of 
chipping off fragments from a block of stone 
with a pick or point, for the purpose of redu- 
cing the faces to an approximately plane sur- 
face. Stone so worked is said to be wasted off. 
Compare clowring. 
wasting (was'ting), p. a. 1. Laying waste; 
devastating ; despoiling. 
No time seems more likely for either than the time 
which followed the ^casting expedition of Totilas which 
Prokopios records. E. A. Freeman, 'Venice, p. 346. 
2. Gradually reducing the bodily plumpness 
and strength; enfeebling; emaciating: as, a 
wasting disease — Wasting palsy. Same as proijres- 
sive muscular atrophy (which see, under progressive). 
wastingly (was' ting -Ii), adr. Lavishly; ex- 
travagantly. 
Not to cause the trouble of making breviates by writing 
too riotous and wastingly. B. Jonson, Discoveries. 
wastort, wastourt, ". Middle EngUsh forms of 
wa.-.-tcr^. 
wastrel (was'trel), H. [Formerly also irosforW ; 
< waste'^ ■+■ -cr + -el (adj. termination as ingati- 
grel, etc. ). or < waster^ + -el.~\ 1. Anything cast 
away as spoiled in the making, or bad ; waste ; 
refuse. — 2. Anything allowed to run to waste. 
Specifically — (a) Waste land ; a common. Carew, Sur- 
vey of Cornwall, fol. 13. (6) A neglected child ; a street 
Arab. 
The veriest waifs and wastrels of society. 
Huxley, Tech. Edacation. 
3. A profligate. [Prov. Eng.] 
wastry, wastery (was'tri, was't^r-i), n. [Also 
ifastrie; < waste'- + -ry (see -ery).} Wasteful- 
ness ; prodigality. [Old Eng. and Scotch.] 
wastry, wastery (was'tri, wSs'ter-i), a. Waste- 
ful; impro'vident. [Obsolete or provincial.] 
The pope and his wastnje workers . . . wei-e no fathers, 
but cruel robbei-s and destroyers. 
Bp. Bale, Select Works (Parker Soc), p. 138. 
wasty (was'ti). fl. [< waste''- + -y''.} Resem- 
bling cotton-waste. 
The wool becomes impoverished on account of the heat 
and dust, and is very tender, with a dry, wasty top. 
U. S. Cons. Hep., No. Ixii. (1S86), p. 47a 
