different between waste vs wear

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?st, IPA^(key): /we?st/
• Rhymes: -e?st
• Homophone: waist

Etymology 1

From Middle English waste (“a waste”, noun), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wast, waste (“a waste”), from Frankish *w?st? (“a waste”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?weh?- (“empty, wasted”).

Noun

waste (countable and uncountable, plural wastes)

1. Excess of material, useless by-products or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
2. Excrement or urine.

   The cage was littered with animal waste

3. A waste land; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness or desert.
4. A place that has been laid waste or destroyed.
5. A large tract of uncultivated land.
6. (historical) The part of the land of a manor (of whatever size) not used for cultivation or grazing, nowadays treated as common land.
7. A vast expanse of water.
8. A disused mine or part of one.
9. The action or progress of wasting; extravagant consumption or ineffectual use.

   That was a waste of time

   Her life seemed a waste

10. Large abundance of something, specifically without it being used.
11. Gradual loss or decay.
12. A decaying of the body by disease; wasting away.
13. (rare) Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; See "to lay waste"
14. (law) A cause of action which may be brought by the owner of a future interest in property against the current owner of that property to prevent the current owner from degrading the value or character of the property, either intentionally or through neglect.
15. (geology) Material derived by mechanical and chemical erosion from the land, carried by streams to the sea.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English waste (“waste”, adjective), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wast (“waste”), from Frankish *w?st? (“waste, empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *w?sto- (“empty, wasted”). Cognate with Old High German wuosti, wuasti (“waste, empty”), Old Saxon w?sti (“desolate”), Old English w?ste (“waste, barren, desolate, empty”).

Adjective

waste (comparative more waste, superlative most waste)

1. (now rare) Uncultivated, uninhabited.
2. Barren; desert.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, page 255:

     For centuries the shrine at Mecca had been of merely local importance, far outshone by the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem, whose cult Christians had in good measure renewed by their pilgrimage in honour of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, while leaving the actual site of the Jerusalem Temple dishonoured and waste.

3. Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess.
4. Superfluous; needless.
5. Dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
6. Unfortunate; disappointing. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes

Same meanings as wasted.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English wasten (“to waste, lay waste”), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French waster (“to waste, devastate”) (compare also the variant gaster and French gâter from a related Old French word); the Anglo-Norman form waster was either from Frankish *w?stijan (“to waste”), from Proto-Indo-European *w?sto- (“empty, wasted”), or alternatively from Latin vast?re, present active infinitive of vast? and influenced by the Frankish; the English word was assisted by similarity to native Middle English westen ("to waste"; > English weest). Cognate with Old High German wuostan, wuastan, wuostjan (“to waste”) (Modern German wüsten), Old English w?stan (“to lay waste, ravage”).

Verb

waste (third-person singular simple present wastes, present participle wasting, simple past and past participle wasted)

1. (transitive) to devastate, destroy

   • Thou barrein ground, whome winters wrath hath wasted, / Art made a myrrour to behold my plight.

   • The Tiber / Insults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.

2. (transitive) To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly.
   • 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

     Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

   • 1909, Francis Galton, Memories of my life, page 69

     E. Kay (1822-1897), afterwards Lord Justice of Appeal, had rooms on the same staircase as myself, and we wasted a great deal of time together, both in term and in my second summer vacation. .

3. (transitive, slang) To kill; to murder.
4. (transitive) To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.

   • until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness

   • 1769, William Robertson, History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V

     Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him.

5. (intransitive) Gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.
6. (intransitive) To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually.

   • The barrel of meal shall not waste.

7. (law) To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.

Derived terms

Synonyms

• (slang, to kill or murder): cack, top, duppy (see also Thesaurus:kill)

Translations

See also

• Waste on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• waste in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Sweat, Weast, swate, sweat, tawse, wetas

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???s.t?/

Verb

waste

1. singular past indicative and subjunctive of wassen

Tocharian B

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

waste ?

1. refuge, sanctuary

West Flemish

Noun

waste f

1. laundry, clothes that need to be washed, or just have been washed.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian (“to clothe, cover over; put on, wear, use; stock (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *wa?jan, from Proto-Germanic *wazjan? (“to clothe”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to dress, put on (clothes)”).

Cognate to Sanskrit ????? (váste), Ancient Greek ?????? (hénnumi, “put on”), Latin vestis (“garment”) (English vest), Albanian vesh (“dress up, wear”), Tocharian B wäs-, Old Armenian ??????? (zgenum), Welsh gwisgo, Hittite ????????- (waš-).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w??/
• (General American) enPR: w?r, IPA^(key): /w??(?)/, [w??], [w??]
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophones: ware, where (in accents with the wine-whine merger), were (some dialects)

Verb

wear (third-person singular simple present wears, present participle wearing, simple past wore, past participle worn or (now colloquial and nonstandard) wore)

1. To carry or have equipped on or about one's body, as an item of clothing, equipment, decoration, etc.

   • It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.
2. To have or carry on one's person habitually, consistently; or, to maintain in a particular fashion or manner.
3. To bear or display in one's aspect or appearance.

4. (colloquial, with "it") To overcome one's reluctance and endure a (previously specified) situation.

5. To eat away at, erode, diminish, or consume gradually; to cause a gradual deterioration in; to produce (some change) through attrition, exposure, or constant use.

6. (intransitive, copulative) To undergo gradual deterioration; become impaired; be reduced or consumed gradually due to any continued process, activity, or use.
   • 1880, Benjamin Disraeli, Endymion

     The family that had raised it wore out in the earlier part of this century

7. To exhaust, fatigue, expend, or weary.

   His neverending criticism has finally worn my patience.? Toil and care soon wear the spirit.? Our physical advantage allowed us to wear the other team out and win.

8. (intransitive) To last or remain durable under hard use or over time; to retain usefulness, value, or desirable qualities under any continued strain or long period of time; sometimes said of a person, regarding the quality of being easy or difficult to tolerate.

9. (intransitive, colloquial) (in the phrase "wearing on (someone)") To cause annoyance, irritation, fatigue, or weariness near the point of an exhaustion of patience.

10. (intransitive, of time) To pass slowly, gradually or tediously.
11. (nautical) To bring (a sailing vessel) onto the other tack by bringing the wind around the stern (as opposed to tacking when the wind is brought around the bow); to come round on another tack by turning away from the wind. Also written "ware". Past: weared, or wore/worn.

    Synonym: gybe

Derived terms

Related terms

• vest

Translations

See also

• don
• put on

Noun

wear (uncountable)

1. (uncountable) (in combination) clothing

   footwear; outdoor wear; maternity wear

2. (uncountable) damage to the appearance and/or strength of an item caused by use over time
   • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter X

     Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing.

3. (uncountable) fashion

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:wear.

Related terms

• wear and tear

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English weren, werien, from Old English werian (“to guard, keep, defend; ward off, hinder, prevent, forbid; restrain; occupy, inhabit; dam up; discharge obligations on (land)”), from Proto-West Germanic *warjan, from Proto-Germanic *warjan? (“to defend, protect, ward off”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to close, cover, protect, save, defend”).

Cognate with Scots wer, weir (“to defend, protect”), Dutch weren (“to aver, ward off”), German wehren (“to fight”), Swedish värja (“to defend, ward off”), Icelandic verja (“to defend”).

Alternative forms

• wer, weir (Scotland)

Verb

wear (third-person singular simple present wears, present participle wearing, simple past weared or wore, past participle weared or worn)

1. (now chiefly Britain dialectal, transitive) To guard; watch; keep watch, especially from entry or invasion.
2. (now chiefly Britain dialectal, transitive) To defend; protect.
3. (now chiefly Britain dialectal, transitive) To ward off; prevent from approaching or entering; drive off; repel.

   to wear the wolf from the sheep

4. (now chiefly Britain dialectal, transitive) To conduct or guide with care or caution, as into a fold or place of safety.

Etymology 3

Noun

wear (plural wears)

1. Dated form of weir.

Anagrams

• -ware, Awre, Ware, arew, ware