Waste (?), a. [OE. wast, OF. wast, from L. vastus, influenced by the kindred German word; cf. OHG. wuosti, G. wüst, OS. w&unr_;sti, D. woest, AS. wēste. Cf. Vast.]
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1. Desolate; devastated; stripped; bare; hence, dreary; dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
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The dismal situation waste and wild. Milton.
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His heart became appalled as he gazed forward into the waste darkness of futurity. Sir W. Scott.
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2. Lying unused; unproductive; worthless; valueless; refuse; rejected; as, waste land; waste paper.
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But his waste words returned to him in vain. Spenser.
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Not a waste or needless sound,
Till we come to holier ground. Milton.
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Ill day which made this beauty waste. Emerson.
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3. Lost for want of occupiers or use; superfluous.
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And strangled with her waste fertility. Milton.
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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.
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Waste (wāst), v. i. 1. To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value, or the like, gradually; to be consumed; to dwindle; to grow less; -- commonly used with away.
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The time wasteth night and day. Chaucer.
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The barrel of meal shall not waste. 1 Kings xvii. 14.
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But man dieth, and wasteth away. Job xiv. 10.
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2. (Sporting) To procure or sustain a reduction of flesh; -- said of a jockey in preparation for a race, etc.
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