WASTE, v.t. [G., L.]

1. Destroyed; ruined. The Sophi leaves all waste in his retreat. – Milton.
2. Desolate; uncultivated; as, a waste country; a waste, howling wilderness. Deut. xxxii.
3. Destitute; stripped; as, lands laid waste.
4. Superfluous; lost for want of occupiers. And strangled with her waste fertility. – Milton.
5. Worthless; that which is rejected, or used only for mean purposes; as, waste wood.
6. That of which no account is taken, or of which no value is found; as, waste paper.
7. Uncultivated; untitled; unproductive. There is yet much waste land in England. – Cyc. Laid waste, desolated; ruined.

1. The act of squandering; the dissipation of property through wantonness, ambition, extravagance, luxury, or negligence. For all this waste of wealth, and loss of blood. – Milton.
2. Consumption; loss; useless expense; any loss or destruction which is neither necessary nor promotive of good end; a loss for which there is no equivalent; as, a waste of goods or money; a waste of time; a waste of labor; a waste of words. Little wastes in great establishments, constantly occurring, may defeat the energies of a mighty capital. – L. Beecher.
3. A desolate or uncultivated country. The plains of Arabia are mostly a wide waste.
4. Land untitled, though capable of tillage; as, the wastes in England.
5. Ground, space, or place unoccupied; as, the ethereal waste. In the dead waste and middle of the night. – Shak.
6. Region ruined and deserted. All the leafy nation sinks at last, / And Vulcan rides in triumph o'er the waste. – Dryden.
7. Mischief; destruction. He will never, I think, in the way of waste, attempt in again. – Shak.
8. In law, spoil, destruction, or injury done to houses, woods fences, lands, &c., by a tenant for life or for years, to the prejudice of the heir, or of him in reversion or remainder. 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.

1. To dwindle; to be diminished; to lose bulk or substance gradually; as, the body wastes in sickness. The barrel of meal shall not waste. – 1 Kings xvii.
2. To be diminished or lost by slow dissipation, consumption, or evaporation; as, water wastes by evaporation; fuel wastes in combustion.
3. To be consumed by time or mortality. But man dieth, and wasteth away. – Job xiv.

1. To diminish by gradual dissipation or loss. Thus disease wastes the patient; sorrows waste the strength and spirits.
2. To cause to be lost; to destroy by scattering or by injury. Thus cattle waste their fodder when fed in the open field.
3. To expend without necessity or use; to destroy wantonly or luxuriously; to squander; to cause to be lost through wantonness or negligence. Careless people waste their fuel, their food, or their property. Children waste their inheritance. And wasted his substance with riotous living. – Luke xv.
4. To destroy in enmity; to desolate; as, to waste an enemy's country.
5. To suffer to be lost unnecessarily; or to throw away; as, to waste the blood and treasure of a nation.
6. To destroy by violence. The Tyber / Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds. – Dryden.
7. To impair strength gradually. Now wasting years my former strength confounds. – Broome.
8. To lose in idleness or misery; to wear out. Here condemn'd / To waste eternal days in woe and pain. – Milton.
9. To spend; to consume. O were I able / To waste it all myself, and leave you none. – Milton.
10. In law, to damage, impair, or injure, as an estate, voluntarily, or by suffering the buildings, fences, &c. to go to decay. See the Noun.
11. To exhaust; to be consumed by time or mortality. Till your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. – Numb. xiv.
12. To scatter and lose for want of use or of occupiers. Fall many a flow'r is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air. – Gray.

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

   The dismal situation waste and wild. Milton.

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

2. 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. Spenser.

   The Tiber
   Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds. Dryden.

3. 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. Chaucer.

   The barrel of meal shall not waste. 1 Kings xvii. 14.

   But man dieth, and wasteth away. Job xiv. 10.

4. 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. Milton.

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

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

5. Material derived by mechanical and chemical erosion from the land, carried by streams to the sea.
6. Lying unused; unproductive; worthless; valueless; refuse; rejected; as, waste land; waste paper.
   
   

   But his waste words returned to him in vain. Spenser.

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

   Ill day which made this beauty waste. Emerson.

7. 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. Num. xiv. 33.

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

   Here condemned
   To waste eternal days in woe and pain. Milton.

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

8. To procure or sustain a reduction of flesh; -- said of a jockey in preparation for a race, etc.
9. 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. Dryden.

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

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

    And strangled with her waste fertility. Milton.

    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.

11. 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. Luke xv. 13.

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

12. 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.
13. 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.

14. 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.
    
    

    * 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.

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

    Syn. -- Prodigality; diminution; loss; dissipation; destruction; devastation; havoc; desolation; ravage.