Search Result for "waif": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

1. a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned;
- Example: "street children beg or steal in order to survive"
[syn: waif, street child]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Waif \Waif\, n. [OF. waif, gaif, as adj., lost, unclaimed, chose gaive a waif, LL. wayfium, res vaivae; of Scand. origin. See Waive.] [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 2. Hence, anything found, or without an owner; that which comes along, as it were, by chance. "Rolling in his mind old waifs of rhyme." --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] 3. A wanderer; a castaway; a stray; a homeless child. [1913 Webster] A waif Desirous to return, and not received. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

waif n 1: a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned; "street children beg or steal in order to survive" [syn: waif, street child]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

58 Moby Thesaurus words for "waif": Arab, beach bum, beachcomber, beggar, bo, bum, bummer, castaway, castoff, derelict, discard, dogie, flotsam, flotsam and jetsam, foundling, gamin, gamine, guttersnipe, hobo, homeless waif, idler, jetsam, junk, lagan, landloper, lazzarone, loafer, losel, mudlark, orphan, piker, ragamuffin, ragman, ragpicker, refuse, reject, rounder, rubbish, ski bum, stiff, stray, street Arab, street urchin, sundowner, surf bum, swagman, swagsman, tatterdemalion, tennis bum, tramp, trash, turnpiker, urchin, vag, vagabond, vagrant, waifs and strays, wastrel
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

WAIFS. Stolen goods waived or scattered by a thief in his flight in order to effect his escape. 2. Such goods by the English common law belong to the king. 1 Bl. Com. 296; 5 Co. 109; Cro. Eliz. 694. This prerogative has never been adopted here against the true owner, and never put in practice against the finder, though against him there would be better reason for adopting it. 2 Kent, Com. 292. Vide Com. Dig. h.t.; 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 239, n.