Origin and history of waste

c. 1200, wasten, "devastate, ravage, ruin," from Anglo-French and Old North French waster "to waste, squander, spoil, ruin" (Old French gaster; Modern French gâter), altered (by influence of Frankish *wostjan) from Latin vastare "lay waste," from vastus "empty, desolate." This is reconstructed in Watkins to be from a suffixed form of PIE root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out." Related: wasted; wasting.

The Germanic word also existed in Old English as westan "to lay waste, ravage." Spanish gastar, Italian guastare also are from Germanic.

The intransitive meaning "lose strength or health; pine; weaken or be gradually consumed" is attested from c. 1300; the sense of "squander, spend or consume uselessly, expend without adequate return" is recorded from mid-14c.; the colloquial meaning "to kill" is from 1964.

To waste time "act to no purpose" is from mid-14c. Waste not, want not is attested from 1778.

c. 1200, "wild, desolate regions; uncultivated or uninhabited land," from Anglo-French and Old North French wast "waste, damage, destruction; wasteland, moor" (Old French gast), from Latin vastum, neuter of vastus "empty, desolate" (from PIE *wasto-, extended suffixed form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out").

It replaced or merged with Old English westen, woesten "a desert, wilderness," from the Latin word.

The meanings "consumption, depletion," also "unnecessary, improvident expenditure" are from c. 1300. The sense of "refuse matter, broken, spoiled or useless material" is attested from c. 1400. Waste basket "basket used for receiving waste" is recorded by 1826; waste-bin is by 1915.

c. 1300, of land, "desolate, uncultivated," from Anglo-French and Old North French waste (Old French gaste), from Latin vastus "empty, desolate" (from PIE *wasto-, extended suffixed form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out"). It is attested from c. 1400 as "superfluous, excess;" by 1670s as "unfit for use." Waste-paper is attested from 1580s.