Noun
useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly; "if the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste"; "mindless dissipation of natural resources"

Noun
(law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect

Noun
the trait of wasting resources; "a life characterized by thriftlessness and waste"; "the wastefulness of missed opportunities"

Noun
an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation; "the barrens of central Africa"; "the trackless wastes of the desert"

Noun
any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted; "they collect the waste once a week"; "much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers"

Verb
waste away; "Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world"

Verb
devastate or ravage; "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion"

Verb
cause to grow thin or weak; "The treatment emaciated him"

Verb
lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief; "After her husband died, she just pined away"

Verb
spend extravagantly; "waste not, want not"

Verb
use inefficiently or inappropriately; "waste heat"; "waste a joke on an unappreciative audience"

Verb
get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing; "The mafia liquidated the informer"; "the double agent was neutralized"

Verb
run off as waste; "The water wastes back into the ocean"

Verb
get rid of; "We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer"

Verb
spend thoughtlessly; throw away; "He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends"; "You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree"

Adjective S.
located in a dismal or remote area; desolate; "a desert island"; "a godforsaken wilderness crossroads"; "a wild stretch of land"; "waste places"

Adjective S.
disposed of as useless; "waste paper"

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a.
Desolate; devastated; stripped; bare; hence, dreary; dismal; gloomy; cheerless.

a.
Lying unused; unproductive; worthless; valueless; refuse; rejected; as, waste land; waste paper.

a.
Lost for want of occupiers or use; superfluous.

a.
To bring to ruin; to devastate; to desolate; to destroy.

a.
To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.

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.

a.
To damage, impair, or injure, as an estate, voluntarily, or by suffering the buildings, fences, etc., to go to decay.

v. i.
To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value, or the like, gradually; to be consumed; to dwindle; to grow less.

v. i.
To procure or sustain a reduction of flesh; -- said of a jockey in preparation for a race, etc.

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.

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.

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.

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.

v.
Old or abandoned workings, whether left as vacant space or filled with refuse.

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Waste

Waste , a. [OE. wast, OF. wast, from L. vastus, influenced by the kindred German word; cf. OHG. wuosti, G. w'81st, OS. wsti, D. woest, AS. w&emac;ste. Cf. Vast.] 1. Desolate; devastated; stripped; bare; hence, dreary; dismal; gloomy; cheerless.

The dismal situation waste and wild.

His heart became appalled as he gazed forward into the waste darkness of futurity.

2. Lying unused; unproductive; worthless; valueless; refuse; rejected; as, waste land; waste paper.

But his waste words returned to him in vain.

Not a waste or needless sound, Till we come to holier ground.

Ill day which made this beauty waste.

3. Lost for want of occupiers or use; superfluous.

And strangled with her waste fertility.

Waste gate, a gate by which the superfluous water of a reservoir, or the like, is discharged. -- Waste paper. See under Paper. -- Waste pipe, a pipe for carrying off waste, or superfluous, water or other fluids. Specifically: (a) (Steam Boilers) An escape pipe. See under Escape. (b) (Plumbing) The outlet pipe at the bottom of a bowl, tub, sink, or the like. -- Waste steam. (a) Steam which escapes the air. (b) Exhaust steam. -- Waste trap, a trap for a waste pipe, as of a sink.

Waste

Waste, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wasted; p. pr. & vb. n. Wasting.] [OE. wasten, OF. waster, guaster, gaster, F. g'83ter to spoil, L. vastare to devastate, to lay waste, fr. vastus waste, desert, uncultivated, ravaged, vast, but influenced by a kindred German word; cf. OHG. wuosten, G. w'81sten, AS. w&emac;stan. See Waste, a.] 1. To bring to ruin; to devastate; to desolate; to 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. To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.

Until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness.

O, were I able To waste it all myself, and leave ye none!

Here condemned To waste eternal days in woe and pain.

Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him.

3. 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.

The younger son gathered all together, and . . . wasted his substance with riotous living.

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

4. (Law) To damage, impair, or injure, as an estate, voluntarily, or by suffering the buildings, fences, etc., to go to decay. Syn. -- To squander; dissipate; lavish; desolate.

Waste

Waste , v. i. 1. To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value, or the like, gradually; to be consumed; to dwindle; to grow less.

The time wasteth night and day.

The barrel of meal shall not waste.

But man dieth, and wasteth away.

2. (Sporting) To procure or sustain a reduction of flesh; -- said of a jockey in preparation for a race, etc.

Waste

Waste, n. [OE. waste; cf. the kindred AS. wsten, OHG. wst'c6, wuost'c6, G. w'81ste. See Waste, a. & v.] 1. 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. "Waste . . . of catel and of time." Chaucer.

For all this waste of wealth loss of blood.

He will never . . . in the way of waste, attempt us again.

Little wastes in great establishments, constantly occurring, may defeat the energies of a mighty capital.

2. 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. "The wastes of Nature." Emerson.

All the leafy nation sinks at last, And Vulcan rides in triumph o'er the waste.

The gloomy waste of waters which bears his name is his tomb and his monument.

3. 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. 4. (Law) 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. &hand; Waste is voluntary, as by pulling down buildings; or permissive, as by suffering them to fall for want of necessary repairs. Whatever does a lasting damage to the freehold is a waste. Blackstone. 5. (Mining) Old or abandoned workings, whether left as vacant space or filled with refuse. Syn. -- Prodigality; diminution; loss; dissipation; destruction; devastation; havoc; desolation; ravage.

Desolate; devastated; stripped; bare; hence, dreary; dismal; gloomy; cheerless.

To bring to ruin; to devastate; to desolate; to destroy.

To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value, or the like, gradually; to be consumed; to dwindle; to grow less.

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.