Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WASTE, v.t. [Sax. westan, awestan; G. verwüsten; D. verwoesten; L. vasto; It. guastare; Sp. and Port. gastar, for guastar; Fr. gâter; Arm. goasta. The W. gwasgaru, scatter, seems to be compound. The primary sense is probably to scatter, to spread. Class Bz, No. 2.]

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.