From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Waste \Waste\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Wasted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Wasting}.] [OE. wasten, OF. waster, guaster, gaster, F.
g[^a]ter 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["u]sten, AS. w[=e]stan. See {Waste}, a.]
[1913 Webster]
1. To bring to ruin; to devastate; to desolate; to destroy.
[1913 Webster]
Thou barren ground, whom winter's wrath hath wasted,
Art made a mirror to behold my plight. --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
The Tiber
Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.
--Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
2. To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish
by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear
out.
[1913 Webster]
Until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness.
--Num. xiv.
33.
[1913 Webster]
O, were I able
To waste it all myself, and leave ye none! --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Here condemned
To waste eternal days in woe and pain. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of
age daily grew on him. --Robertson.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
The younger son gathered all together, and . . .
wasted his substance with riotous living. --Luke xv.
13.
[1913 Webster]
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air. --Gray.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Law) To damage, impair, or injure, as an estate,
voluntarily, or by suffering the buildings, fences, etc.,
to go to decay.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: To squander; dissipate; lavish; desolate.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
wasted
adj 1: serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being;
"otiose lines in a play"; "advice is wasted words"; "a
pointless remark"; "a life essentially purposeless";
"senseless violence" [syn: {otiose}, {pointless},
{purposeless}, {senseless}, {superfluous}, {wasted}]
2: not used to good advantage; "squandered money cannot be
replaced"; "a wasted effort" [syn: {squandered}, {wasted}]
3: (of an organ or body part) diminished in size or strength as
a result of disease or injury or lack of use; "partial
paralysis resulted in an atrophied left arm" [syn:
{atrophied}, {wasted}, {diminished}] [ant: {enlarged},
{hypertrophied}]
4: very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold;
"emaciated bony hands"; "a nightmare population of gaunt men
and skeletal boys"; "eyes were haggard and cavernous"; "small
pinched faces"; "kept life in his wasted frame only by grim
concentration" [syn: {bony}, {cadaverous}, {emaciated},
{gaunt}, {haggard}, {pinched}, {skeletal}, {wasted}]
|