Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WASTE, v.i.

1. To dwindle; to be diminished; to lose bulk or substance gradually; as, the body wastes in sickness. The barrel of meal shall not waste. – 1 Kings xvii.
2. To be diminished or lost by slow dissipation, consumption, or evaporation; as, water wastes by evaporation; fuel wastes in combustion.
3. To be consumed by time or mortality. But man dieth, and wasteth away. – Job xiv.