waif : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: waif	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for waif
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
waif n a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned; "street children beg or steal in order to survive" Synonym(s): waif, street child
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Waif \Waif\, n. [OF. waif, gaif, as adj., lost, unclaimed, chose gaive a waif, LL. wayfium, res vaivae; of Scand. origin. See {Waive}.] 1. (Eng. Law.) Goods found of which the owner is not known; originally, such goods as a pursued thief threw away to prevent being apprehended, which belonged to the king unless the owner made pursuit of the felon, took him, and brought him to justice. --Blackstone. 2. Hence, anything found, or without an owner; that which comes along, as it were, by chance. [bd]Rolling in his mind old waifs of rhyme.[b8] --Tennyson. 3. A wanderer; a castaway; a stray; a homeless child. A waif Desirous to return, and not received. --Cowper.