waste

Definition

Excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.

Etymology

From Middle English wast, waste (“a waste”, noun), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wast, waste (“a waste”), from Frankish *wōstī (“a waste”), from Proto-Germanic *wōstaz, *wōstuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty, wasted”).

Example Sentences

• "The cage was littered with animal waste."
• "We went down accordingly into the waste, and began to make our toilsome and devious travel towards the eastern verge."
• "The pampas of Argentina and the chilly wastes of Patagonia, like the prairies and deserts of North America, were largely shunned by Spanish settlers until the 1870s."