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wasting |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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.] 1. 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. 2. 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. 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. 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. 4. (Law) 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. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Wasting \Wast"ing\, a. Causing waste; also undergoing waste; diminishing; as a wasting disease; a wasting fortune. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: wasting n : a decrease in size of an organ caused by disease or disuse [syn: {atrophy}, {wasting away}]
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