waif

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /weɪf/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪf

The noun is derived from Late Middle English weif (“ownerless property subject to seizure and forfeiture; the right of such seizure and forfeiture; revenues obtained from such seizure and forfeiture”) ,^[1] from Anglo-Norman waif, weif  (compare Anglo-Latin waivum , Medieval Latin waivium), possibly from Old French waif, a variant of gaif, gayf (“property that is lost and unclaimed; of property: lost and unclaimed”) (Norman) , probably from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse veif (“flag; waving thing”),^[2] from Proto-Germanic *waif-, from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to oscillate, swing”).

The verb is derived from the noun.^[3]

waif (plural waifs)

1. (British, law, archaic) An article of movable property which has been found, and of which the owner is not known, such as goods washed up on a beach or thrown away by an absconding thief; such items belong to the Crown, which may grant the right of ownership to them to a lord of a manor.

   waifs and strays

2. (figuratively)
   1. Something found, especially if without an owner; something which comes along, as it were, by chance.
   2. A person (especially a child) who is homeless and without means of support; also, a person excluded from society; an outcast.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vagabond

      • 1624, John Donne, “13. Prayer”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: , London: A M for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, page 329:

        But vvhat a vvretched, and diſconſolate Hermitage is that Houſe, vvhich is not viſited by thee [God], and vvhat a VVayue, and Stray is that Man, that hath not thy Markes vpon him?

      • 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “The White Ape”, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC, page 55:

        Tenderly Kala nursed her little waif, wondering silently why it did not gain strength and agility as did the little apes of other mothers. It was nearly a year from the time the little fellow came into her possession before he would walk alone, and as for climbing—my, but how stupid he was!

      • 1916 April, Carl Sandburg, “Old Woman”, in Chicago Poems, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 168:

        Only an old woman, bloated, disheveled and bleared. / Far-wandered waif of other days, / Huddles for sleep in a doorway, / Homeless.

   3. (by extension) A very thin person.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:thin person

      Antonyms: see Thesaurus:fat person

      • 2021, Megan Nolan, Acts of Desperation‎, Random House, →ISBN:

        When we had done all the things there were to do, he passed out and I clung to his reassuringly solid, soft stomach—paternal, so different to the indie waifs—and cried.

   4. (by extension, botany) A plant introduced in a place outside its native range but not persistently naturalized.

• waifish
• waifishly
• waifishness
• waiflike

• waive

waif (third-person singular simple present waifs, present participle waifing, simple past and past participle waifed)

1. (transitive) To cast aside or reject, and thus make a waif.
   • 1848, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter I, in Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; , volume II, London: Richard Bentley, , →OCLC, book IX (The Bones of the Dead), pages 293–294:

     It is true that Guy, Count of Ponthieu, holds fief under me, but I have no control over the laws of his realm. And by those laws, he hath right of life and death over all stranded and waifed on his coast.

Possibly from Old Norse veif (“flag; waving thing”);^[4] see further at etymology 1.

waif (plural waifs)

1. (nautical, chiefly whaling, historical) A small flag used as a signal.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Fast-fish and Loose-fish”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, pages 440–441:

     [page 440] The allusion to waifs and waif-poles in the last chapter but one, necessitates some account of the laws and regulations of the whale fishery, of which the waif may be deemed the grand symbol and badge. […] [page 441] fish is technically fast when it bears a waif, or any other recognised symbol of possession; so long as the party waifing it plainly evince their ability at any time to take it alongside, as well as their intention to do so.

• waff
• waft
• wheft

Origin unknown; possibly related to the following words:^[5]

• waff (“waving movement; gust or puff of air or wind; odour, scent; slight blow; slight attack of illness; glimpse; apparition, wraith; of the wind: to cause (something) to move to and fro; to flutter or wave to and fro in the wind; to produce a current of air by waving, to fan”) (Northern England, Scotland), a variant of waive (etymology 2) or wave (see further at those entries).^[6]
• Middle English wef, weffe (“bad odour, stench, stink; exhalation; vapour; tendency of something to go bad (?)”) ,^[7] possibly a variant of either:
  • waf, waif, waife (“odour, scent”),^[8] possibly from waven (“to move to and fro, sway, wave; to stray, wander; to move in a weaving manner; (figuratively) to hesitate, vacillate”), from Old English wafian (“to wave”),^[9] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”); or
  • wef (“a blow, stroke”),^[10] from weven (“to travel, wander; to move to and fro, flutter, waver; to blow something away, waft; to cause something to move; to fall; to cut deeply; to sever; to give up, yield; to give deference to; to avoid; to afflict, trouble; to beckon, signal”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Old English wefan (“to weave”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”)), or from wǣfan (see bewǣfan, ymbwǣfan).^[11]

waif (plural waifs)

1. Something (such as clouds or smoke) carried aloft by the wind.

• waif and stray on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Derived from English wife.

waif (plural waif dem, quantified waif)

1. wife
   • 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, Matyu 5:31-32:

     “It rait dong se, ‘Eni man we lef dem waif fi gi ar di piepa we shuo se dem no marid agen.’ Bot ier wa mi a se: eni man we brok op wid im waif, an a no laik se shi did a kip man wid im ar a gwaan wid no ada seks sin, ef da uman de go marid wan neks man, a di fos ozban wuda mek shi a liv iina sin kaa nou shi wudaana sliip wid wan neks man. An di man we marid da uman de afta ar ozban lef ar, im a liv iina sin tu, kaa im a sliip wid wan neks man waif

     "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

• waif at majstro.com

waif

1. Alternative form of weif