waif

Plural: waifs

Noun

a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned
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.
Something found, especially if without an owner; something which comes along, as it were, by chance.
A person (especially a child) who is homeless and without means of support; also, a person excluded from society; an outcast.
A very thin person.
A plant introduced in a place outside its native range but not persistently naturalized.
A small flag used as a signal.
Something (such as clouds or smoke) carried aloft by the wind.

Verb

Verb Forms: waifed, waifing, waifs

To throw or cast away; to abandon as a worthless item.
To cast aside or reject, and thus make a waif.

Examples

He considered whether to waif his low-value tiles or try to build a word.
waifs and strays

Origin / Etymology

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”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman waif, weif [and other forms] (compare Anglo-Latin waivum [and other forms], 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) [and other forms], probably from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse veif (“flag; waving thing”), from Proto-Germanic *waif-, from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to oscillate, swing”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

Synonyms

street child, Jack out of doors, bum, casual, clochard, derelict, dero, down-and-out, down-and-outer, drifter, epithite, floater, gadling, hobo, knight of the road, landleaper, landloper, landlouper, nomad, paker, palliard, pike, piker, ranger, rogue, rolling stone, rough sleeper, scatterling, skelder, skell, stroller, stumblebum, swaggie, swagman, thin person, toerag, tramp, truant, vagabond, vagrant, waif, wanderer, yagger

Antonyms

thin person

Scrabble Score: 10

waif: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
waif: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
waif: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

waif: valid Words With Friends Word