▪ I. waster, n.1
(ˈweɪstə(r))
Forms: 4 wastere, wastor, (waaster), 4–5 wastoure, -owre, wastur, 4–6 wastour, 5 wayster, 5–6 waister, Sc. -our, 6 Sc. westour, westar, 4– waster.
[Orig. a. AF. wastere, -our, agent-n. f. waster waste v. This coalesced with the later formation on waste v. + -er1. In sense 6 the word may be f. waste a. or n. + -er1.]
I. One who or something which wastes.
1. a. One who lives in idleness and extravagance; one who wastefully dissipates or consumes his resources, an extravagant spender, a squanderer, spendthrift. Now chiefly dial., with some notion of sense 6, a worthless person, ‘ne'er-do-well’.
| 1352 Winner & Waster 194 ‘Ȝee wynnere’, quod wastoure, ‘thi wordes are vayne: With oure festes and oure fare we feden the pore.’ Ibid. 390 Who so wele schal wyn, a wastour moste he fynde, For if it greues one gome it gladdes anoþer. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 22 Summe..In Eringe and in Sowynge swonken ful harde, Þat monie of þeos wasturs In Glotonye distruen. Ibid. A. v. 24 He bad wastors go worche what þei best couþe, And wynne þat þei wasteden with sum maner craft. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 445 Þe Kyng was a ravener in gaderynge and a greet wastour in spendynge. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 162 Bachus..A wastour was, and al his rente In wyn and bordel he despente. 1470 Paston Lett. Suppl. (1901) 137 Which..shuld cause..your frendis to thynk..that ye shuld be a wastour and wuld wast your lyvelod. 1508 Stanbridge Vulgaria (W. de W.) C iij b, He is a waster. Profusus est pecunie. 1597 in Spalding Club Misc. (1841) I. 177 The said Walter did never strik his wyff, nather yit onis fund fault with hir,..althocht scho wes ane westour. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 94 Prodigall ding⁓thrifts and wasters. 1631 F. Lenton Charact. G 7, A Good Husband... He is the sole happinesse of a good wife, and the torment of a Waster. 1641 D. Ferguson Sc. Prov. No. 511 (1785) 20 It is well wairt that waisters want gear. a 1697 Aubrey Lives, Hobbes (1898) I. 347 His lord, who was a waster, sent him up and downe to borrow money. 1741 Richardson Pamela IV. 369 This would..instruct him..to avoid being a Squanderer or Waster. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 407 He who will not work, must..leave the town, as they will not sweat themselves for an healthy idle waster. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxviii, Ye will think I am turned waster, for I wear clean hose and shoon every day. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Waster,..a wasteful person. 1887 J. W. Matthews Incwadi Yami ii. 20 The class of wasters which public grumbling bred and fostered. 1896 Baden-Powell Matabele Campaign i, A mining population of whites and blacks and ‘wasters’,..‘Wasters?’—oh, it's a South African word, and most expressive; applies to the specious loafer who is so common in this country. 1904 J. Sweeney At Scotland Yard viii. 203 Here was a wretched invertebrate fellow, an absolute ‘waster’. |
| quasi-adj. 1596 in Maitl. Club Misc. (1840) I. 82 The presbiterie findis Johne Graye to have callit sir Bartilmo Simsone, ane wastourfallo, commoun theve, [etc.]. 1728 Ramsay Last Sp. Miser xiv, But waster wives, the warst of a'. |
b. One who wastefully dissipates or consumes (something specified; in early use money, resources). Const. of.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 200, & ȝif men..wolden fayn paie, & traueile bisily þerfore in treuþe, & ben not wastouris of here litil good. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 291 Men moste enquere..Wher she be wys..or wastour of thy good. 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 131 He is a wastoure of his goodes, and destrueth his roialme whate he may. 1549 Cheke Hurt Sedit. (1569) H iij b, But what is a loyteror? A sucker of Honie, a spoyler of corne, a destroyer of fruite, naye a waster of money [etc.]. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 73 A man of an yll lyfe and an inordinate waster of the goodes of the Church. 1611 B. Jonson Catiline i. i. B 3, Diuers Roman Knights (The profuse wasters of their patrimonies). 1701 Penn in Pennsylv. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 72 Learn who have been the wasters of timber. 1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 81 This waster of ink, this defiler of paper. 1842 J. Wilson Chr. North (1857) II. 18 No waster was she of her tears, or her smiles. 1883 American VII. 6 But the good sense of the majority soon suppressed these wasters of time. |
c. An action or habit that causes waste.
| a 1633 G. Herbert Outlandish Prov. (1640) 11 Building and marrying of Children are great wasters. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. 75 Gaming, that great waster of time as well as fortune, is not his vice. |
2. a. One who lays waste, despoils or plunders; a devastator, ravager, plunderer.
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. xvi. 4 Moab, be thou the lurkyng place of hem fro the face of the wastere [Vulg. a facie vastatoris]. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 5310 Þe werreour of all þe werd & wastoure of ynde. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 518/1 Wastowre, of a place, dilapidator. 1544 Supplic. to King (E.E.T.S.) 42 Truly no lytle wasters, spoylers, and robbers; and that of the most poore. 1575 Luther's Comm. Gal. ii. 9 Of a persecuter and waster of the Church, he was made an Apostle. 1583 Babington Commandm. viii. (1590) 321 It can not bee, that our heartes should bee right in affections towardes our brethren, and wee spoylers and wasters, or any way harmers of the commodities which they inioy. 1738 Wesley Ps. cxxxvii. xi, The Lord shall all thy Pow'r o'erthrow And lay the mighty Waster waste. 1817 Scott Harold i. ix, Witikind the Waster. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. (1870) I. ii. 649 And press around each new-come man to learn If Harfleur now the pagan wasters burn. 1879 Butcher & Lang Odyss. 115 Odysseus..the waster of cities. |
† b. One who or something which destroys. Const. of, to. Obs. rare.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xviii. (Egipciane) 791 Þu art..confourt of wrech, waster of syn. c 1400 Cursor M. 27983 (Cotton Galba) Þis licheri es..waster of man-kin. 1646 Hammond Of Conscience §67. 35 That only sin continued in for any long time,..was a far greater waster to Conscience. |
| Prov. 1672 W. Walker Parœm. 27 Water is a waster. Aqua dentes habet. |
3. The designation of a class of thieves mentioned along with ‘Roberdesmen’ and ‘Drawlatches’ in a statute of Edw. III. Obs. exc. arch.
The occurrence of the word in the AF. statute of 1331 is no proof that it was current in English at that date. All subsequent examples merely echo the statute.
| 1331, 1581 [see Roberdsmen]. 1543 tr. Act 5 Edw. III, c. 14 Bycause there hath ben dyuers manslaughters, felonies, and roberies done in tymes past, by people that be called Roberdesmen, wastes [sic], and Drawlaches. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Wastors, a kind of Thieves, or Robbers anciently known by that Name. 1890 Conan Doyle White Company iv, It shall never be said whilst I am Bailiff of Southampton, that any waster, riever, drawlatch or murtherer came scathless away from me and my posse. |
¶ Misused to render AF. westour in a statute relating to Wales. Obs.—1
The AF. word represents Welsh gwestwr (f. gwest lodging, hospitality + gwr man), a vagrant who went about exacting free board and lodging.
| 1543 tr. Act 4 Hen. IV, c. 27 Mischieues, whiche hath happened before this tyme in y⊇ land at wales, by many wasters, rymours, mynstrels, and other vacabondes [orig. Westours, Rymours, Ministralx & autres vacabondes]. |
4. a. An animal that is wasting away or losing flesh, or that will not fatten. Also attrib. as † waster ox.
| 14.. in Walter of Henley's Husb. (1890) 51 Þe feble ox costithe as moche and more þen þe beste ox for yeff he be a wayster ox he moste be þe more spared. 1614 Markham Cheap & Good Husb. ii. [ii.] i. 45 Which [healthfulness of an ox] you shall know by a good taile and a good pyzel, for if the haire..be lost, then hee is a waster and will be long in feeding [for the butcher]. 1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. xli. §3 (1700) 308 A lean..slender Pike, though he seem to advance in length; yet is commonly a waster, and in a decaying condition;..yet he'll live and be as hungry and greedy as ever. 1895 E. Angl. Gloss., Waster, a rabbit or other animal that looks like a dier, wasting away. 1907 Daily Chron. 13 Sept. 6/7 In an adjoining shed there was a ‘waster’ [i.e. a cow affected with tuberculosis], which was so ill that it could not stand up. |
b. a bad waster: said of a jockey who has difficulty in ‘wasting’ (see waste v. 11 c).
| 1833 Q. Rev. XLIX. 399 He is a bad waster, and is much punished to bring himself to the three-year-old weights. 1849 Bentley's Misc. XXVI. 581 Some men are bad wasters, when nothing but very severe exercise, aided by medicine,..suffices to get off the last twenty-four ounces. |
5. a. Something which causes or allows waste or loss of material.
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 142/1 [Sluices] also act as wasters, to allow the surplus water of a reservoir to escape. 1880 Spurgeon Ploughm. Pict. 135 A leaking tap is a great waster. |
b. A foreign body in the wick of a candle which causes it to gutter and waste. dial.
| 1788 G. Wilson Coll. Masonic Songs 72 (Jam.) Oft on the wick there hangs a waster, Which makes the candle burn the faster. 1877 Holderness Gloss., Wasther, a thief in the candle. 1886 W. Somerset Gloss., Waster. |
c. Path. = comedo.
| 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 752 It is also known as grub, worm, black-head, or ‘waster’. |
II. 6. Something rejected as waste. a. An article of faulty or inferior manufacture.
| a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose, Wasters, damaged or misshapen goods. North. 1828 [Carr] Craven Gloss., Waster, any thing among wares that is damaged or of inferior workmanship. 1829 J. Hunter Hallamsh. Gloss., Waisters, articles of cutlery laid aside on account of any imperfection. 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 360 The former [i.e. needles with broken eyes]..are thrown aside as wasters. 1846 Greener Sci. Gunnery 135 A great number of barrels declared ‘wasters’, such as..having holes in the sides, or some other fault sufficient to condemn them in the eyes of a..barrel-maker. 1869 F. Kohn Iron & Steel Manuf. 106 If cast in a fireclay mould, the contraction was still irregular, and 10 per cent. of all tyre castings were ‘wasters’. 1878 L. Jewitt Ceramic Art Gt. Brit. I. iv. 76 A kiln..in and around the remains of which were many vessels—‘wasters’ as they would be technically called—of various kinds. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. II. 177/2 Such lenses, together with those that possess..other defects, are technically called ‘wasters’. 1880 P. W. Flower Hist. Trade in Tin xiii. 173 Some of the sheets thus thrown out are called menders.., others are called wasters, for which there is always a market at a reduction in price; the worst are called waster waste. 1892 Athenæum 30 Apr. 577/1 A pottery, worked at however distant a period, leaves traces of coccj and ‘wasters’. 1900 Bath Herald 15 Sept., Galvanized Corrugated Iron, for Roofing, best quality only, no wasters. 1928 W. B. Honey Old Eng. Porcelain i. 15 Nothing short of an undoubted ‘waster’ can prove conclusively that a particular type was made on the factory site in question. 1950 D. T.-D. Clarke Roman Pottery Kiln 4 Pots of similar grey ware have been found at Market Overton..which are undoubtedly wasters. 1961 M. Kelly Spoilt Kill ii. 81 Pots that were twisted, shrunken and collapsed... Wasters, they called them. 1974 Canad. Antiques Collector Sept.–Oct. 27/2 There are remains of many little potteries scattered all over southern Ontario, and mounds of ‘wasters’ or broken or discarded ware. |
b. An animal, bird, etc. which is not good enough to be kept for breeding purposes.
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 405 A young sow,..having as many as nine pigs, it could not be expected any of them would be so properly fat for wasters, as if she had brought but four or five. 1904 Nature 25 Aug. 408/2 But now let him breed from his ‘wasters’ and he will find that the extracted blacks are pure and give blacks only. |
▪ II. † ˈwaster, n.2 Obs.
Also 6 wayster.
[Of obscure origin.]
1. A wooden sword or a foil used in sword-exercise and fencing.
| 1455 in Meyrick Ant. Armour (1824) II. 144 Furst viij swerds and a long blade of a swerde made in wafters [read wasters]..for to lerne the king to play in his tendre age. 1541 Rutland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) IV. 313 For Bryngyng..of hiltes for the crosse wasters for my Lorde Roose, iiij d. 1561 Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer i. (1577) E 1 b, If going about to cast a dart, or holding in his hande a sworde or any other waster. 1600 Holland Livy xl. vi. 1063 Foule worke they made with their wodden wasters and headlesse pikes. 1621 Bp. Hall Heaven upon Earth §11 Even as with woodden wasters we learne to play at the sharp. a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal (1673) 111 The fencer's staffe or waster..was call'd rudis (as some think) because with such cudgels they practiz'd the rudiments of fencing, before they came in publick to fight at sharp. |
2. A cudgel, staff, club.
| 1533 Heywood John, Tyb & Sir John A j b, Nought shulde preuayle me, nother staffe nor waster Within a whyle she wolde be my mayster. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions App. 327 Let there bee giuen vnto hym by the commune Sergeaunt of the batte .xxxix. stripes with a waster. 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) I. 92/1 Verianus and Marcellianus..were beat with wasters or trunshons, after that [they] were hanged..vpon the gibbet. 1598 Stow Surv. (1603) 96 The youthes of this Citie also haue vsed on holy dayes after Euening prayer, at their Maisters doores, to exercise their Wasters and Bucklers. 1611 J. Davies (Heref.) Sco. Folly (Grosart) 49/2 ‘A groning horse and grunting wife neuer failes their master’: Yes, if the master haue not life to ply them with the waster. ? 1615 S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. (? 1620) Pref. §10 A 4, A weake arme wanting power and skill well to welde a waster or staffe that is somewhat too heauy for it, wearieth it selfe and fainteth. |
3. Fencing with a ‘waster’; single-stick, cudgel-play. Also pl. esp. in to play at wasters.
| 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 281 Let vs pley at buckeler and at waster in feyre game. This waster [rudis] is not laufull. 1594 Selimus 1812 in Greene's Wks. (Grosart) XIV. 264, I thought my selfe as proper a fellow at wasters, as any in all our village. 1596 Nashe Saffron-Walden T 1, To see a Gillian draggell taile..play at wasters with a quil for the britches. 1630 Dekker 2nd Pt. Honest Wh. D 3 b, If o're husbands their wiues will needes be Masters, We men will haue a law to win't at wasters. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iii. §11. 206 Such kind of recreations as..playing at wasters and foines. 1636 King & Queen's Entert. Richmond (Bang) 11 And what can Richard doe, play a little at wasters, and make the blood..run about his vellowes eares at a Wake. |
| attrib. 1599–1600 [? G. Ruggle] Club Law iv. i, To night is holy daye, and there will be waster play. |
4. fig.
| ? 1615 S. Lennard Charron's Wisd. (? 1620) §10 A 3 b, Science or Learning is a very good and profitable staffe or waster. 1640 G. Abbott Job Paraphr. 73 Be perswaded to lay downe the wasters, to give over reasoning the matter. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. iii. 8 Being unable to weild the intellectual armes of reason, they are faine to betake themselves unto wasters and the blunter weapons of truth. |
▪ III. waster, n.3 Sc.
(ˈweɪstə(r))
Also 9 wester.
[Altered form of wawsper, influenced by the synonymous leister.]
A fishing-spear.
| 1580, 1634 [implied in wastering vbl. n.]. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxvi, This chase, in which the fish is pursued and struck with barbed spears, or a sort of long-shafted trident, called a waster, is much practised at the mouth of the Esk, and in the other salmon rivers of Scotland. Ibid., Ground the waster weel, man! 1825 Jamieson, Waster, a kind of trident used for striking salmon, Dumfr., Eskdale: the same with Wester. a 1835 Hogg Sheph. Wedding ii. Tales & Sk. 1837 II. 152 My teeth war a' waterin to be in him, but I kend the shank o' my waster wasna half length. 1843 W. Scrope Salmon Fish. Tweed ix. 195, I shall give a description of the clodding, or throwing leister, or waster, as he was used to term it... The spear has five prongs of unequal, but regularly graduated, length. |
▪ IV. waster, v. Sc.
(ˈweɪstə(r))
[f. waster n.1]
trans. To spend or use extravagantly, to waste.
| 1821 Galt Ann. Parish v. 58 My servant lassies..wastered every thing at such a rate..that, long before the end of the year, the year's stipend was all spent. 1823 ― Entail II. xix. 184 Since that time he's been neither to bind nor to haud,..wastring his income in the most thoughtless way. |