Etymology From Middle English wasti, westy, westi, westiȝ (“desolate, deserted; destitute”), from Old English wēstiġ (“wasty, desert, desolate”), from Proto-West Germanic *wōstīg (“waste-like, deserted”), equivalent to waste + -y. Cognate with Scots wasty, waisty (“desolate, deserted; unoccupied”), Dutch woestig (“inhospitable, rugged, wild”), German Low German wööstig (“desolate”).
1
Resembling a waste or wasteland; desert; (by extension) deserted, desolate.
But, happily, we meet with circumstances that break in upon this routine and monotony, and we thank God, as Mungo Park did, when the moss peeped up at him from the wasty desert.1885, The Sunday Magazine, volume 14, page 199:
Frequent on wasty places and in the desert.1912, Reinhold Conrad Muschler, A Manual Flora of Egypt, volume 2, page 1068:
3 more examples
These boundaries were a long way down into the desert, below a corner of that fearful wasty wild known as the Great Erg.1922, The International Interpreter: The International News Weekly, page 658:
It is formed of glacial rock in all sorts of shapes and sizes and gives a wasty, desert appearance.2009, George B. Bookman, Headlines, Deadlines and Lifelines, page 297:
A red-tailed hawk swooped down into a stand of prickly pears in a “wasty” moonscape.2013, Alex Shoumatoff, Legends of the American Desert:
wasty
adj
Etymology From Middle English wasty (“extravagantly or wastefully expensive”), equivalent to waste + -y.
1
Containing or yielding much waste.
2
Of produce Deteriorating, wasting away.
This fruit was well packed and nicely graded, but unfortunately a wasty condition prevented satisfactory prices being obtained.1924, The Journal of the Department of Agriculture of Victoria:
3
Of livestock Obese; excessively fat.
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Then, too, the market demand is not so much for the extreme early maturing, excessive fat type, but it is for a trimmer, “less wasty” hog.1906, The Illinois Agriculturist, volume 11, page 239:
2 more examples
A trim-middled hog will have a higher dressing percentage than a wasty, gutty, paunchy, heavy-middled hog.1958, John M. Kays, Basic animal husbandry, page 269:
Young animals are angular and slightly thin-fleshed; mature animals are slightly thick-fleshed, but irregular in contour. Fat covering varies from thin in young animals to moderately thick in mature animals and may be patchy or wasty.1999, J. S. Pruthi, Quick Freezing Preservation of Foods: Foods of animal origin:
4
US Resembling cotton-waste (the leftover cotton fibers from manufacturing and post-consumer sources that can be recycled into new products).