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 indicative 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, [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, 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, 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.
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.
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɑst
- IPA(key): /ʋɑst/
Gothic
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”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /waːst/, /wast/
Adjective
wast (plural and weak singular 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”).
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:
- (rare) Waste, rubbish; useless things.
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
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /waːst/, /wast/
Noun
wast (plural wastes)
References
- “wā̆st(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /wast/
Old French
Old Gutnish
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *wast, second-person singular indicative past of *wesaną.
Scots
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English west, from Old English west, from Proto-West Germanic *westr, from Proto-Germanic *westraz, from Proto-Indo-European *wek(ʷ)speros. Cognate to English west.