Search the Dictionary

To throw away; to cast off; to reject; to desert.

. Luke xv. 13. Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Gray.

Waste; desolate; unoccupied; untilled. [Obs.] In wilderness and wasteful desert strayed. Spenser.

That which is waste; a desert; a waste. [R.] Through woods and wasteness wide him daily sought. Spenser.

domesticated; as, wild parsnip, wild camomile, wild strawberry, wild honey. The woods and desert caves, With wild thyme and gadding vine o'ergrown. Milton.

uninhabited by human beings, whether a forest or a wide, barren plain; a wild; a waste; a desert; a pathless waste of any kind. The wat'ry wilderness yields no supply. Waller.

pecies, most of which are characterized often used as an emblem of sorrow, desolation, or desertion. "A wreath of willow to show my forsaken plight." Sir W. Scott. Hence, a lover forsaken by, or having lost, the person beloved, is said to wear the willow. And I must wear the willow garland For him that's dead or false…

Value in respect of moral or personal qualities; excellence; virtue; eminence; desert; merit; usefulness; as, a man or magistrate of great worth. To be of worth, and worthy estimation. Shak. As none but she, who in that court did dwell, Could know such worth, or worth describe so well. Waller. To think how modest worth…

The quality or state of being worthy; desert; merit; excellence; dignity; virtue; worth. Who is sure he hath a soul, unless It see, and judge, and follow worthiness Donne. She is not worthy to be loved that hath not some feeling of her own worthiness. Sir P. Sidney. The prayers which our Savior made were for his own wo…

h or value; one distinguished for useful and estimable qualities; a person of conspicuous desert; -- much used in the plural; as, the worthies of the church; political worthies; military worthies. The blood of ancient worthies in his veins. Cowper.

A low, thorny, suffrutescent, crucifeous plant (Zilla myagroides) found in the deserts of Egypt. Its leaves are boiled in water, and eaten, by the Arabs.