Waste

Waste, wāst, adj. empty, desert: desolate: useless, vain: stripped: lying unused: unproductive.—v.t. to lay waste or make desolate: to destroy: to wear out gradually: to squander: to diminish: to impair.—v.i. to be diminished: to dwindle: to be consumed.—n. act of wasting: useless expenditure: superfluous material, stuff left over: loss: destruction: that which is wasted or waste: uncultivated country: desert: refuse, as of coal, &c.: decay, decline: (law) natural but permanent injury to the inheritance.—ns. Wās′tage, loss by use, natural decay; Waste′-bas′ket, Waste′paper-bas′ket, a basket for holding useless scraps of paper; Waste′-book, a book in which merchants make entries of transactions in order as they occur, and for a temporary purpose.—adj. Waste′ful, full of waste: destructive: lavish: (Spens.) desolate.—adv. Waste′fully.—ns. Waste′fulness; Waste′-gate, a gate for discharging surplus water from a dam, &c.; Wās′ten (Spens.), a desert; Waste′ness (B.), devastation; Waste′-pipe, a pipe for carrying off waste or surplus water; Wās′ter, one who or that which wastes: a spendthrift: a destroyer: an article spoilt in the making.—adj. Wās′ting, devastating: enfeebling—(Wasting investments, stocks redeemable on a certain date at a fixed price, for which a premium above the redemption price is paid).—ns. Wās′ting, devastation; Wās′trel, refuse: anything neglected, a neglected child: (dial.) a profligate; Wās′try (Scot.), prodigality.—adj. improvident.—Waste lands, uncultivated and unprofitable tracts in populous and cultivated countries; Waste time, to employ time unprofitably or not at all.—Run to waste, to become incapable or useless.—Utilisation of waste products, the putting to other use of such material as is rendered either wholly or partially useless in the manufacture of articles and products—e.g. waste-silk is now a valuable raw material for a large spun-silk industry. [O. Fr. wast, gaste—L. vastus, waste; cf. A.S. wéste, Ger. wüst, desolate.]