▪ I. waif, n.1 (and a.)
(weɪf)
Pl. waifs. Forms: 3–7 wayf, 4–9 waife, 5 wayffe, 5, 7 weif, 6 wayfe, wayff, 6–7 weife, 7 wafe, waiefe, weyfe, wayve, waive, wave, 9 waiff, 6– waif. Also pl. 5, 7 wayves, 5 weyves, 6 wavys, 6–7 waives. See also weft.
[a. AF. waif, wayf (Sk.), weif, weyf (Britton), gwayf (in Kennett), (Anglo-L. waivum, wayvium, weyvium) = OF. (Norman) gaif, gayf (fem. gaive, gayve) n. and adj.; early mod.F. (Cotgr.) vuayves (n.), and (choses) guesves or gayves; prob. of Scandinavian origin, with the primary sense ‘something loose or wandering’; cf. ON. veif something flapping or waving (cf. waif n.2), related to veifa trans. to wave, vibrate. Cf. waive v.]
A. n.
1. Law. a. A piece of property which is found ownerless and which, if unclaimed within a fixed period after due notice given, falls to the lord of the manor; e.g. an article washed up on the seashore, an animal that has strayed. Often waif and stray or † straif: cf. stray n. 1, straif.
Not evidenced as Eng. before 1377; the bracketed quots. represent the AF. use of 13–15th c., in which the word is often collect. sing. meaning lost property collectively or the right of the lord to such property.
| [1223 in Kennett Par. Antiq. (1818) II. 275 Recognitum est..quod ad nos spectat le Gwayf &c in terris nostris. 1228 in Mem. Ripon (Surtees) I. 52 Wrek, weyf, stray, merchet. c 1290 Fleta i. xlvii. (1647) 62 Si quis..libertatem Weyvii habere clamans, animal vagans in feodo suo invenerit. 1293 Rolls of Parlt. I. 115/1 Omnia Animalia que dicuntur Wayf, inventa in predictis terris. 1372 in Kennett Par. Antiq. (1818) II. 151 Dicte xix marce seisite fuerunt ibidem tanquam Wayf in manum prioris. 1400 in Liber Custum. (Rolls) 486 Quod prædictus Dux..haberet..omnimoda catalla vocata ‘Wayf’ et ‘Stray’.] |
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 94 Of wardes and wardmotes, weyues and streyues. 1444 Rolls of Parlt. V. 126/2 All maner Wayffes and Strayes, and othur godes forfeted. 1447 J. Shillingford Lett. (Camden) 99 He and his predecessours..have had view of Frank Plegge weif and straif and all other profits longing to a view. 1455 Rolls of Parlt. V. 311/2 Wrecke of the Sea, Weyves, Estrayes. 1546 in Sel. Pleas Crt. Admiralty (1894) I. 148 The sayde Leonard Sumpter fyndynge the sayde shyppe..dryvynge with the streamys as a wayff and forsaken of all creatures toke and seased uppon the same as lawfull wayff and thynge forsaken. 1547 in J. H. Glover Kingsthorpiana (1883) 93 That all wavys and strays from hense forthe shalbe delyvered to the Baylie by the Thurbarrowes. 1622 Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 22 When an owner cannot be found, the Common Law gives it Domino Regi, as Waifs, Strays, Wreck of the Sea. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. viii. 292 Wrecks, treasure trove,..waifs, and estrays, may be granted by the king to particular subjects, as a royal franchise: and indeed they are for the most part granted out to the lords of manors. 1826 Scott Woodst. ii, Sir Henry Lee is keeper of Woodstock Park, with right of waif and stray [etc.]. 1852 I. Pfeiffer Journ. Iceland 85 He has a right to all the waifs, which is a privilege of some importance, on account of the wood drifted from the American continent. 1866 Kingsley Herew. vi, The country folk, who were prowling about the shore after the waifs of the storm. |
| incorrect use. 1871 Ruskin Fors Clav. I. iii. 18 Hearing that a considerable treasure of ancient coins and medals has been found in the lands of Vidomar, Viscount of Limoges, King Richard sends forthwith to claim this waif for himself. |
† b. (See quots.) Obs.
| 1579 Expos. Terms Law 186 Wayfe is when a theefe hath feloniously stolne goodes, and beinge neerelye followed with hue, and crye,..flieth away and leaueth the goods..behind him, then the queenes officer or the Reeue or Bailife to the Lord of the manour..may seyse the goodes so wayued to their lordes vse. 1610 W. Folkingham Feudigr. iii. iv. 71 Waiues, Weifes, or waiued goods, import all goods and chattels, which being stolne, are left or forsaken by the thiefe in his fugacie. 1620 J. Wilkinson Courts Leet 125 Waiefes are cattell stolne and weived out of the possession of him that stole them. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. viii. 286 Waifs, bona waviata, are goods stolen, and waived or thrown away by the thief in his flight, for fear of being apprehended. |
2. transf. and fig. a. In general use.
| 1624 Donne Devot. xiii. (ed. 2) 312 What a Wayue, and Stray is that Man, that hath not thy Marks vpon him? 1676 Marvell Mr. Smirke, Hist. Ess. 49 Whensoever a Christian transgresses these bounds once, he is impoundable, or like a wafe and stray whom Christ knows not, he falls to the Lord of the Mannor. 1690 C. Nesse O. & N. Test. I. 143 We are faln into our Lords hands..as wafes and strays; the Lord of the Mannor seizeth on us for not paying our fines. 1785 Burns Twa Herds i, Or wha will tent the waifs and crocks, About the dykes? 1823 Scott Peveril xxxix, You are here a waif on Cupid's manor, and I must seize on you in name of the deity. 1848 Dickens Dombey liii, I had no scruples of conscience in suffering all the waifs and strays of that conversation to float to me as freely as they would. 1855 Tennyson Brook 199 Rolling in his mind Old waifs of rhyme. 1877 Symonds Sk. & Stud. Italy (1879) 300 A chiffonnier of Paris,..when the night has fallen, goes into the streets..to rake up the waifs and strays a day of whirling life has left him. 1879 Froude Cæsar xxiii. 398 He was now flung as a waif on the shore of a foreign land. 1918 F. Wood-Jones Probl. Man's Ancestry 42 The whole fauna of Australia consists (with the exception of a few waifs) of pouched animals. |
b. esp. A person who is without home or friends; one who lives uncared-for or without guidance; an outcast from society; an unowned or neglected child.
| 1784 Cowper Task iii. 80 'Twas hard, perhaps, on here and there a waif, Desirous to return, and not receiv'd. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. iv. I. 26 It's no possible..that such poor waifes could be guilty of any thing like that. 1857 A. Mathews Tea-Table T. I. 205 Some blest Alsatia..wherein to gather up the waifs and strays that abound in the bye-ways. 1862 ‘Shirley’ (J. Skelton) Nugæ Crit. iii. 159 They are the waifs and strays, and cast-aways of society. 1875 Children reclaimed for Life 82 Little Jem Jervis was simply a friendless waif. 1916 Whitaker's Almanack Advt. 114 Church of England—Waifs and Strays Society needs help for its large family of over 4,600 children... Over 20,000 Children Rescued. |
3. Comb., as waif-like adj.; waif-wise adv.
| 1871 Swinburne Songs bef. Sunrise, Eve of Revol. 63 Whose multiplying hands Wove the world's web with divers races fair And cast it waif-wise on the stream. 1924 R. Campbell Flaming Terrapin ii. 35 Their waif-like corpses on a stormy bed Toss in their deep deliriums. 1962 I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose xv. 149 How young she looked, how waif-like. |
B. attrib. and adj.
1. attrib. or appositive (indicating lost property, a strayed animal, a homeless person, etc.).
| 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Treat. 155 Ane wafe beast, after zeare and day, is escheit to the King. 1678 Sir G. Mackenzie Crim. Laws Scot. i. xix. §iv. (1699) 98 He who finds a waife Beast, which hath strayed from the owner. 1681–2 Radclyffe Household Bks. in Northumb. Gloss., Mantayning a wave child in Dilston, 1 l. 8 d. 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 117 Where one finds strayed cattle, or other moveables, which have been lost by the former owner (waif goods). 1898 F. D. How Walsham How xix. 267 A Home for Waif Boys had been established. |
2. adj. (Sc.) a. Stray, wandering, homeless: = waff a. 1.
| c 1730 Ramsay Vision i, Mylane I wandert waif and wae. 1806 R. Jamieson Rosmer Hafmand iv. Pop. Ballads II. 203 And wull and waif for eight lang years They sail'd upon the sea. |
b. Applied to a report or saying: Floating, current. rare.
| 1753 Stewart's Trial Append. 102 Depones, That he heard a waif report in the country, that [etc.]. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped xvii. 162, I have heard a waif word in the country..that you were a hard man to drive. |
c. Poor or inferior in quality; = waff a. 2.
| 1824 S. E. Ferrier Inher. III. 164 It will be but a waiff kind of happiness. |
Hence ˈwaifish a., ˈwaifishly adv.
| 1936 S. Smith Novel on Yellow Paper 220 Such..wispish, waifish progeny. 1977 Time 31 Jan. 21/3 The waifish face beneath the jaunty white cap never loses its ethereal Pre-Raphaelite look. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 20 June 703/1 Hurricane's Samoan scenery is enticingly picturesque: doesn't art student Charlotte—waifishly played by Mia Farrow—arrive on her vacation exclaiming ‘I can't wait to get out my paintbox’? |
▸ An extremely thin person.
Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense A. 2b.
| 1980 A. Tyler Morgan's Passing ii. v. 49 Seven slim, blue-jeaned girls and..a little white-haired waif with rhinestone ear studs, some friend of Kate's. 1984 D. Cooper He Cried 15 Doug watched the band carefully, hot for its singer, a half-hearted, pasty waif screaming an elementary set of loose phrases stocked with obscenities. 1996 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 23 July 11/1 From the thin waifs on the balance beam to the grunting giants of the weights, this is about an individual's special skills being tested in the white-hot crucible of competition. 2002 ‘Mistress Chloe’ Dominatrix ix. 131, I was able to buy most of what I wanted at a little shop presided over by a timid Gothic waif in purple eyeshadow and lipstick. |
▪ II. waif, n.2
[? a. ON. veif, something waving or flapping.]
† 1. ? A convolution, coil. Sc. Obs.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vii. vii. 25 The grisly serpent semyt sum tyme to be About hir hals a lynkyt goldin cheynȝe; And sum tyme of hir curche, lap with a waif, Becum the selvage or bordoure of hir quayf. |
2. A small flag used as a signal: = waff n. 1 b, waft n. 6. Now Naut. spec. in whaling. Also attrib., as waif-pole.
| 1530 Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 446 And the watch that beis in Sanct Nicholace stepill to pyt on the waiffs that he hes, to the part of the toun he seis thame cumand to. 1839 Knickerbocker XIII. 382 Line-tubs, water-kegs, and wafe-poles, were thrown hurriedly into the boats. 1846 T. B. Thorpe Mysteries of Backwoods 85 As the waiffe of the whaleman [marks] his victim on the sea. 1850 Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. xiv. (1858) 213 Two waifs, or flags, were immediately set as a signal of distress. 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick III. iii. 27 The allusion to the waifs and waif-poles..necessitates some account of the laws and regulations of the whale fishery. 1874 C. M. Scammon Marine Mammals 25 (Cent.) The officer who first discovers it [a whale] sets a waif (a small flag) in his boat, and gives chase. |
▪ III. waif, n.3
(weɪf)
[Cf. weff, waff n.]
Something borne or driven by the wind; a puff (of smoke), a streak (of cloud).
| 1854 Patmore Angel in Ho., Betrothal 18 The sunny wind that..shaped the clouds in waifs and zones. 1879 R. H. Elliot Written on their Foreheads xxxiii. II. 1 The first waifs of the hot-weather sea-borne breeze had in the evening begun faintly to fan the topmost heights of the border hills. 1886 Parry Stud. Gt. Composers, Schubert 232 Nothing but waifs of cloud and howling of wind. |
▪ IV. waif, v.
(weɪf)
[f. waif n.1 Cf. waive v.1]
In pass.: to be thrown up or cast away as a waif.
| 1848 Lytton Harold ix. i. 291 He hath right of life and death over all stranded and waifed on his coast. |
▪ V. waif
obs. form of waive, wave vbs.