waift

Noun (1)

waif (plural waifs)

1. (UK, 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) Something found, especially if without an owner; something which comes along, as it were, by chance.
3. (figuratively) A person (especially a child) who is homeless and without means of support; also, a person excluded from society; an outcast.
   • 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?1624, John Donne, “13. Prayer”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, page 329

   Synonyms:

   bum, stiff, casual, clochard, derelict, dero, down-and-out, down-and-outer, drifter, epithite

4. (broadly, figuratively) A very thin person, especially a young one.
   • 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.2021, Megan Nolan, Acts of Desperation, Random House, →ISBN

   Synonyms:

   thin person

   Antonyms:

   All are derogatory unless otherwise labeled, butterball, chod, chodder, chubbs, chubster, chunker, chunky monkey, elephant, fat

5. (broadly, figuratively) A plant introduced in a place outside its native range but not persistently naturalized.

Noun (2)

waif (plural waifs)

1. (historical, chiefly whaling) A small flag used as a signal.
   • [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] [A] fish is technically fast when it bears a waif, or any other...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

See all 9 meanings of waif