Definition of "waste"

waste¹

/weɪst/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural wastes
1. Excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
2. Excrement or urine.
3. A wasteland; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness or desert.
  Quotations
  We went down accordingly into the waste, and began to make our toilsome and devious travel towards the eastern verge.
  1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886
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.
  Quotations
  'Rebel railwaymen' at Birmingham New Street refused to wear the new uniforms on the grounds that they were a "complete waste of public money".
  2023 March 22, Mike Esbester, “Staff, the public and industry will suffer”, in RAIL, number 979, page 39
10. Large abundance of something, specifically without it being used.
11. Gradual loss or decay.
12. A decaying of the body by disease; atrophy; wasting away.
13. (rare) Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; see "to lay waste".
14. (law) 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.
adjective
comparative more waste, superlative most waste
1. (MTE, slang, derogatory) Useless and contemptible.
  Quotations
  Niggas moves so waste / Please, come outside the house and show yourself / So I can say it to your face
  2017 March 18, “Free Smoke”, in More Life, performed by Drake
  Waste / Don't talk to me / You're so waste
  2022 September 22, “ONTARIO PLACE”, in BADMAN, performed by Bert Le Plug

waste²

/weɪst/

adjective
comparative more waste, superlative most waste
1. (now rare) Uncultivated, uninhabited.
  Quotations
  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(please add an English translation of this quotation)
  1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xvij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII
2. Barren; desert; empty.
  Quotations
  ‘The stars,’ she whispers, ‘blindly run;⁠A web is wov’n across the sky;⁠From out waste places comes a cry,And murmurs from the dying sun: […]
  1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], canto III
  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.
  2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 255
3. Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess.
  Quotations
  Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.
  2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist
4. Superfluous; needless.
5. Dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
  Quotations
  the savage Baron's heart […] became appalled as he gazed forward into the waste darkness of futurity.
  1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […]
6. Unfortunate; disappointing.

waste³

/weɪst/

verb
third-person singular simple present wastes, present participle wasting, simple past and past participle wasted
1. (transitive) To devastate; to destroy.
  Quotations
  Thou barrein ground, whome winters wrath hath wasted, / Art made a myrrour to behold my plight.
  1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Ianuarie. Aegloga Prima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […]; republished as The Shepheardes Calender […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], 1586,
  The Tiber / Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.
  1697, Virgil, “Aeneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
2. (transitive) To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly.
  Quotations
  I like this place,And willingly could waste my time in it.
  c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene vi], lines 812-13
  Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
  1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
  A “moving platform” scheme […] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. […] This set-up solves several problems […]. Stopping high-speed trains wastes energy and time, so why not simply slow them down enough for a moving platform to pull alongside?
  2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly)
  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.
  1909, Francis Galton, Memories of my life, page 69
3. (transitive, slang) To kill; to murder.
4. (transitive) To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to deteriorate; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.
  Quotations
  until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Numbers 14:33
  Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him.
  1769, William Robertson, The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] W. and W. Strahan, for W[illiam] Strahan, T[homas] Cadell, […]; and J. Balfour, […]
5. (intransitive) To gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.
6. (intransitive) To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually.
  Quotations
  […] The barrell of meale shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oile faile, vntill the day that the Lord sendeth raine vpon the earth.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1 Kings 17:14
7. (law) To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.

Definition of "waste"

waste1

noun

Quotations

Quotations

adjective

Quotations

waste2

adjective

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

waste3

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

waste¹

waste²

waste³