wast
English
Etymology 1
From Late Middle English wast; equivalent to was + -est.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /wɒst/
Audio (southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒst
Verb
wast
- (archaic) second-person singular simple past form of be; wert.
- c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene 2 (a hunting song)]:
- Take thou no scorn to wear the horn, It was a crest ere thou wast born […]
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Genesis 3:11:
- And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Revelation 16:5:
- And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
- 1850, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Blessed Damozel, lines 97-99
- Alas! We two, we two, thou say'st!
- Yea, one wast thou with me
- That once of old.
-
See also
- am
- are
- is
- art
- be
- being
- been
- beest
- was
- were
- wert
References
- “wast”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
- “wast”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Noun
wast (plural wasts)
- Obsolete form of waist.
Anagrams
- 'twas, ATWS, AWTs, S.W.A.T., SWAT, Swat, TAWS, TWAs, WSTA, sawt, staw, swat, taws, wats
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɑst
- IPA(key): /ʋɑst/
Verb
wast
- second- and third-person singular present indicative of wassen
- (archaic) plural imperative of wassen
Gothic
Romanization
wast
- Romanization of 𐍅𐌰𐍃𐍄
Middle English
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Old Northern French wast (adjective), from Frankish *wōstī, from Proto-Germanic *wōstuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to desert”). Doublet of weste (“deserted”).
Alternative forms
- vaste, waast, waest, waist, waste
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /waːst/, /wast/
Adjective
wast (plural and weak singular waste)
- uncultivated, deserted, desolate
- extravagant, wasteful, excessive
- useless, empty, meaningless
Related terms
- wasten
- wastful
- wastite
- wastour
- wastyne
Descendants
- English: waste
- Scots: waste
References
- “wā̆st(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Old Northern French wast (noun), from the adjective. Doublet of weste (“wilderness”).
Alternative forms
- waast, waste
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /waːst/, /wast/
Noun
wast (plural wastes)
- Uncultivated or deserted land; wilderness.
- Devastation, ruination; making waste.
- (property law) Damage to property or that which causes it.
- The utilisation or expenditure of resources:
- Extravagant or wasteful consumption.
- Useless or ineffectual behaviour; futility.
- (rare) Waste, rubbish; useless things.
Descendants
- English: waste
- Scots: waste
- Yola: wauste
References
- “wā̆st(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 3
Apparently inherited from Old English *wæst, *wæxt, *weahst, from Proto-West Germanic *wahstu, from Proto-Germanic *wahstuz; compare waxen (“to grow”).
Forms with /aː/ may be due to the analogy of the variation between /aː/ and /a/ in Etymologies 1 and 2.
Alternative forms
- waast, waist, waste
- wacst (early)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /waːst/, /wast/
Noun
wast (plural wastes)
- (uncommon) waist (bottom of the chest).
- (rare) waist (middle portion of a ship's hull)
Descendants
- English: waist
- → Japanese: ウエスト (uesuto)
- Scots: waist
References
- “wā̆st(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 4
From was + -est; partially replacing earlier were.
Alternative forms
- waste
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /wast/
Verb
wast
- (Late Middle English) second-person singular past indicative of been
Descendants
- English: wast (archaic)
- Yola: wasth
Verb
wast
- Alternative form of wasten
Old French
Noun
wast m (oblique plural waz or watz, nominative singular waz or watz, nominative plural wast)
- Alternative form of gast
Scots
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English west, from Old English west, from Proto-West Germanic *west, from Proto-Germanic *westraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wek(ʷ)speros. Cognate to English west.
Adverb
wast (comparative mair wast, superlative maist wast)
- west
- back, sideways; upstream
Preposition
wast
- west
- over, across
- She wis walkin wast the road. - She was walking across the road.
Adjective
wast (comparative mair wast, superlative maist wast)
- west
See also
- (compass points)
| north | ||
| wast |  | east |
| sooth |