Also 4–7 wast, 4–5 waast, Sc. vast(e, 5–7 (chiefly Sc.) waist, 6 waiste, Sc. waest. [ME., a. OF. wast, dial. var. of guast, gast = Pr. gast, Pg. gasto, It. guasto:—Rom. *wasto, repr. (with influence from the cogn. and synonymous OHG. wuosti) L. vāstus waste, desert, unoccupied (distinct from văstus VAST a.).
The adopted OF. word took the place of the early ME. WESTE a. (cogn. w. L. vāstus). In mod.E. it seems to have coalesced with the contracted pa. pple. of WASTE v. and with the attributive use of WASTE sb.]
1. Of land: a. Uncultivated and uninhabited or sparsely inhabited. Sometimes with stronger implication: Incapable of habitation or cultivation; producing little or no vegetation; barren, desert.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 205/180. Al-a-boute in a waste londe.
c. 1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 51. Affryca … hath more wyldernes and waste londe, for grete brennynge and hete of þe sonne, þan Europa.
c. 1420. Wyntoun, Cron., II. ix. 787. He sende wiþe þaim sum of his men Til Irlande, þat was nocht ȝit þen Inhabit, bot was wast haly.
c. 1480. Henryson, Test. Cress., 588. My Spreit I leif to Diane,… To walk with hir in waist Woddis and Wellis.
c. 1500. Melusine, i. 18. He began within her land, that was wast & deserte for to byld … fayre tounes & strong Castels.
1535. Coverdale, Wisd. xi. 2. They … pitched their tentes in ye waist deserte.
1598. Hakluyt, Voy., I. 103. We trauailed directly Eastward, hauing a Sea on the South side of vs, and a waste desert on the North.
1635. D. Dickson, Hebr. xii. 22. 301. Vagabonds, wandring abroad in a waste Wildernesse.
c. 1639. Sir W. Mure, Ps. xxix. 8. Yea, at the dreadfull voyce of God, Waist Kadesh desart quaikes.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, Pers. Wars, I. xii. 20. [They] ever neglected the Province beyond the Euphrates, being without water and wast.
1671. Milton, P. R., I. 7. I … now sing … Recover’d Paradise to all mankind,… And Eden rais’d in the wast Wilderness.
1819. Scott, Leg. Montrose, xi. He therefore plodded patiently on through a waste and savage wilderness.
1843. De Quincey, Ceylon, Wks. 1890, VII. 436. Ceylon has not much of waste ground, in the sense of being irreclaimable—for of waste ground in the sense of being unoccupied she has an infinity.
b. fig. Desolate, barren. Cf. 4.
c. 1825. W. M. Praed, Poems, Farewell, iv. And still the shadowy hope was rife That once in this waste weary life My path might cross with thine.
1839. J. H. Newman, Par. Serm., IV. xii. 215. The world, in which our duties lie, is as waste as the wilderness. Ibid. (1845), Ess. Developm., 314. Dreary and waste was the condition of the Church.
1851. Carlyle, Sterling, III. vi. Our conversation was waste and logical, I forget quite on what, not joyful and harmoniously effusive.
1908. W. M. Ramsay, Luke, i. 3. Nothing in the whole history of literary criticism has been so waste and dreary as great part of the modern critical study of Luke.
Comb. 1839. Carlyle, Chartism, v. 233. It is not chaos and a waste-whirling baseless Phantasm. Ibid. (1851), Sterling, I. v. This waste-weltering epoch. Ibid. (1871), in Mrs. Carlyle, Lett. (1883), I. 141. On the solitary coach-roof, under the waste-blowing skies.
c. In weaker sense: Not applied to any purpose; not utilized for cultivation or building.
1439. Charters etc. Edin. (1871), 64. Beside the vaste lande neire byside the house of John of Turyng.
1480. Cov. Leet Bk., 445. Be lawe of þis lande, the lorde of þe waste soyle may surcharge and put þerin what nombre [of cattle] hym lykes. Ibid., 472. The seid Priour & Couent seyn that þe same grounde is parcell of the Churcheyarde, and was no wast-grounde.
1531. Abstr. Protocols Town Clerks Glasgow (1897), IV. 32. Ane waest bornesteyd, lyand into Sant Tenewsgaet.
1538. Starkey, England, iii. 73. That we haue so much wast ground here in our cuntrey, hyt ys not to be attrybute to the nature of the erthe … but [etc.].
1543. trans. Act 13 Edw. I., c. 45. Where as in a statute made at Merton it was graunted that lordes of wast woodes and pastures myght improwe the sayde wast woodes and pastures, [etc.].
1551. Crowley, Pleas. & Payne, 479. Caste downe the hedges and stronge mowndes, That you have caused to be made Aboute the waste and tyllage groundes.
1690. Locke, Govt., II. v. § 42. Land that is left wholly to Nature, that hath no Improvement of Pasturage, Tillage, or Planting, is called, as indeed it is, Waste.
1725. Lond. Gaz., No. 6398/1. A Piece of waste Ground for Building.
1820. Starkie, Rep. Cases N. P., II. 464. The lords of the manor of Hampstead had, from time immemorial, exercised the right of granting out parcels of the waste lands within the manor, with the consent of the copy-holders.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, viii. A melancholy piece of waste ground with frowzy grass.
1858. J. B. Norton, Topics, 225. The district officers had not had leisure to settle all the contending applications for permission to take up waste lands.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 109. Let the fowler confine himself to waste places and to the mountains.
1900. W. H. Hudson, Nature in Downland, 41. So unlike the barren, thistly, and weedy waste lands and fallows does it look.
1908. W. M. Ramsay, Luke, v. 179. The soil originally was waste and valueless.
† d. transf. ? Uncultured mentally. Obs.
1541[?]. Coverdale, Confut. Standish, i j. Yf I shuld saye ye were puft vp, ignoraunt, a waist brayne, et cete. … ye wolde happlie be angrie.
† 2. Of former places of habitation or cultivation, buildings, etc.: Devastated, ruinous. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18890. Þe psalm sais, thoru þe haligast, His woning stede be wild and wast.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 62. Þer þe Inglis had bigged, he mad it wast & bare.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VII. 151. And than the formast cumin weir Till a vast [v.r. waist] husbandis hous.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxix. (Placidas), 326. [Satan] Kist don castellis in hast, & towne & tilth al mad wast.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 32. The toun is wast.
14[?]. Polit. Poems (Rolls), II. 244. An old castel, and not repaired, With wast walles and wowes wide.
1491. Newminster Cartul. (1878), 251. Two waste chapellez.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cclxix. 163. He … rested hym in certayne olde wast & broken howses.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Kings xix. 25. Now haue I caused it for to come, that contencious stronge cities mighte fall in to a waist heape of stones.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, V. 236. [He] built a strong forte vpon the sea shore, and repaired an other which had lien a long time waste.
a. 1604. Hanmer, Chron. Irel. (1633), 53. The which Abbey … was afterward destroyed by Pyrates … and so continued waste unto the time of Malachias, Bishop of Armach.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., Introd. A very large and well-proportioned saloon,… but so waste and dilapidated, that [etc.].
3. a. To lie waste: To remain in an uncultivated or ruinous condition.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 239. It lies now waste &lorn, half may þei not tille.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. i. 7. Youre londe lieth waist, youre cities are brent vp.
1557. Tusser, 100 Points Husb., 94. Thryfallowe betime, for destroing of weede:… And better thou warte, so to doe for thy hast: then (hardnes) for slougth make thy lande to lie wast.
1653. [see LIE v.1 8].
1890. D. Davidson, Mem. Long Life, ix. 214. At the close of the Pindaree war many villages were lying waste in the valley of the Nerbudda for more than thirty years.
b. To lay waste: to devastate, ravage (land, buildings).
1535. Coverdale, Ps. lxxix. 7. For they haue deuoured Iacob, and layed waiste his dwellinge place.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 19. All the country aboute layde waste.
1563–4. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 257. Layand thairthrow waist ane grete part of the cuntre.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LXXIV. vii. Not one house doth stand … But they by fire have laide it waste.
1610. R. Niccols, Winter Nt’s Vis., Robt. Dk. Norm., l.
| There all the host as towards Nice we past, | |
| With spoilefull hands laid all the countrie wast. |
1611. Bible, Ezek. xxxv. 4. I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate.
c. 1680. Beveridge, Serm. (1729), II. 549. When Judas Maccabeus had … repaired the temple at Jerusalem after it had been … laid waste.
1796. Burke, Let. Noble Ld., Wks. 1843, II. 273. Which, like columns of locusts, have laid waste the fairest part of the world.
1824. Campbell, Theodric, 346. For war laid waste his native land once more.
1879. Miss Yonge, Cameos, Ser. IV. 42. Villages were burnt and laid waste.
1890. S. Lane-Poole, Barbary Corsairs, I. ix. 96. He laid waste the Apulian coast.
fig. 1660. H. More, Myst. Godl., I. v. 14. [This] is a sign they are stark naught, and that Pride has laid wast their Intellectuals.
1680. W. A[llen], Persuas. Peace & Unity, Pref. p. xlviii. Wks. (1707), 396. Because they laid waste Charity in a great measure by their Divisions and Contentions.
1845–6. Trench, Huls. Lect., Ser. II. viii. 275. To hinder him from utterly laying waste his moral life.
† 4. Of speech, thought or action: Profitless, serving no purpose, idle, vain. Obs.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 1552. Þys nunne was of dedys chaste, But þat she spake wurdys waste She made many of here felawys Þenke on synne for her sawys. Ibid., 1586. Here wurdys were al vyle & waste. Ibid. (c. 1330), Chron. Wace (Rolls), 9359. Þe kyng sey þe sege was wast.
c. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 2184. Haly men thogh[t] þis lyf bot wast, Þarfor þair yhernyng til God was mast.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xvii. 14. For he hath maad my couenant wast [Vulg. irritum fecit; 1388 he made voide].
c. 1400. 26 Pol. Poems, iv. 177. Alle þe þouȝtes ben but wast Wiþoute contemplacioun.
c. 1430. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 211. My waast expensis y wole with-drawe; Now, certis, ‘waast’ weel callid þei be, for þei were spent, my boost to blowe.
c. 1440. York Myst., xii. 196. Saue þe, dame, from sak of synne, And wisse þe fro all werkis wast!
1465. Marg. Paston, in P. Lett., II. 217. For as for any indytementes that we schuld labor a yenst them it is but wast werk.
1583. Rich, Phylotus (1835), 21. Alas … suche wishes are but waste, and vnpossible it is, that any suche thing should happen.
a. 1592. Greene, Alphonsus, IV. iii. 1411. Ile lay my life that, ere this day be past, You shall perceiue these tidings all be waste.
1598. R. Bernard, trans. Terence, Heautontim., IV. iv. He shall make but a wast errand [L. frustra veniet].
† b. quasi-adv. In vain, to no purpose. Obs.
1418. 26 Pol. Poems, xiv. 76. Spende waste, passyng his rent, For suche a kyngdom haþ ben shent.
c. 1440. York Myst., xlii. 87. And spekis now no whare my worde waste.
a. 1585. Montgomerie, Flyting, 690. Git that my invention wars thine then, Without the whilk thou might haue barked waist.
† 5. Void, destitute of. Sc. Obs.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron. (Wemyss), lxxxix. 2916. For statut law first ordanit he That … all ydolis were bot waist Off godheid, and deuillis ware.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. vii. 177. Our large feildis and boundis all betwene Left desolate and waist of induellaris.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 208. In the meine tyme King Eugenie and the Peychtes Inuadet Britannie wast of men of weir, quhen na campe lay in it.
† 6. Superfluous, needless. Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 5. Þei stryuen nyȝt and day who of hem may bilde gaiest wast housis. Ibid., 14. Þei gederen to hem self many wast and precious cloþes. Ibid., 60. Prelatis … lyue so contrariously aȝenst here [the apostles’] pore lif, in wast seruauntis, in grete fatte hors & nedles. Ibid. (1382), Eccl. ii. 26. To the synnere forsothe he ȝaf tormenting and wast bisynesse [Vulg. curam superfluam.]
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 75. Sum supprise wiþ seruil chargis our religioun, þat our Lord Ihu Crist wold to be fre, in so wast halowing of sacramentis, so þat þe condicoun of Jewis is more suffurable.
1618. W. Lawson, Orch. & Gard. (1623), 34. The waste boughs closely and skilfully taken away, would giue vs store of fences and fewell.
† 7. Of time, leaves in a book: Spare, unoccupied, unused. Of buildings or rooms: Unoccupied, empty. Obs.
1574. Satir. Poems Reform., xlii. 140. Ȝe se out throw this land How mony waist Kirkis thair dois stand But outher Prayers or Preiching.
1589. Greene, Orpharion (1599), 4. I would bestow a little wast time while my Sheepe grase so hard, to holde thee chat.
1615. Life Death etc. Lady Jane Gray, C 2. Offering to close vp the book shee found in the end thereof some few leaues of cleane paper vnwritten;… shee took penne and inke and in those wast leaues wrote a most Godly and learned exhortation.
1717. Berkeley, Tour in Italy, Wks. 1901, IV. 253. A large waste inn (i.e. little inhabited for the size, having [been] the country palace of some nobleman).
1725. Sloane, Jamaica, II. 217. It is frequently to be met with in large waste houses.
1729. Law, Serious C., xii. (1732), 200. All the hours that are not devoted either to repose, or nourishment, are look’d upon by Succus as waste or spare time.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), II. 156. I was locked up and confined in a waste room. Ibid., III. 63. I took up my lodging in a waste hut. Ibid., 69. We took shelter in a waste barn.
† 8. Of a person: ? Worthless. Obs.
1616. B. Jonson, Epigr., xlvi. Is this the Sir, who, some wast wife to winne A knight-hood bought, to goe a wooing in?
9. Of materials, incidental products, etc.: Eliminated or thrown aside as worthless after the completion of a process; refuse.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Pref. A 3. How waste and useless would many of the Productions of this and other Countries be, were it not for Manufactures?
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 389. Temporary manures, such as soot, bone-dust,… waste yeast … and liquid manures,… are most advantageously applied on the surface of the ground.
1857. Dickens, Dorrit, I. ix. The waste droppings of the pump.
1868. Joynson, Metals, 38. One striking feature of the practical science of the day is the attempts which it has made … to utilise the waste products of our manufactures.
1900. Jrnl. Soc. of Dyers, XVI. 5. It is obtained from the waste liquors.
1907. J. A. Hodges, Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6), 33. To carry off the waste developer and washing water.
b. Said of the excreta of animal bodies.
1836. A. Combe, Digest. (1842), 354. Besides the bowels, there are several other channels by which the waste materials of the body pass out.
1908. Animal Managem. (War Office), 16. The duty of the kidneys is to filter waste matters from the blood as it circulates through them.
c. Waste water, superfluous water, or water that has served its purpose, allowed to run away; also attrib. as waste-water pail, pipe. Waste steam, the superfluous steam discharged from a boiler, or the spent steam discharged from the cylinder of a steam-engine; also attrib. in waste-steam pipe.
c. 1450. in Archæologia, LVIII. 301. The goter of breke for þe waste watre.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 212. This Waste-Water is carried away in Drains.
1791. R. Mylne, in Rep. Engin. Thames Navig., 33. A gauged long weir should be run across the River, at the waste water draw-lock … and another, upon the Stone tumbling bay.
1839. R. S. Robinson, Naut. Steam Eng., 122. The waste steam pipe is generally of cast iron or copper, terminating at its upper end in a bell mouth. Ibid., 148. The oil, &c., put into the cylinders … is rapidly carried away through the waste water pipe into the sea.
1846. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 313. When the steam in the boiler exceeds its proper pressure it raises the valve and escapes by a pipe called the waste-steam-pipe.
1854. Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Techn. (ed. 2), I. 100. A current of hot air produced by a fan driven by the waste steam from the apparatus.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 6130, Fool bath, hot-water jug, and waste-water pail.
1886. J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 70. Waste-water, water from old workings.
d. Of manufactured articles: Rejected as defective. Also, (e.g., of sheets of a printed book) produced in excess of what can be used.
1842. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., V. 201/1. 2 per cent. of waste-castings are made.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., Waste cards, defective or rejected cards, usually sold at a cheaper rate than perfect ones.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. p. xxix. Intended for the purpose of using up waste negatives by mounting.
10. As complement in certain phrases. † To fly waste, of a missile, to be discharged uselessly (obs.). To run waste (? rare) = to run to waste (see WASTE sb. 10).
1797. Brydges, Homer Trav., II. 330. But this good broom-staff ne’er flies waste.
1814. Q. Rev., XI. 71. Savages, who suffer the productions of the earth, as well as their own moral and intellectual faculties, to run waste.
1891. Ménie Muriel Dowie, Girl in Karp., xx. 274. The talent that was running waste among the village people.
