waste (n.) Look up waste at Dictionary.com
c. 1200, "desolate regions," from Anglo-French and Old North French wast "waste, damage, destruction; wasteland, moor" (Old French gast), from Latin vastum, neuter of vastus "waste" (see waste (v.)).

Replaced or merged with Old English westen, woesten "a desert, wilderness," from the Latin word. Meanings "consumption, depletion," also "useless expenditure" are from c. 1300; sense of "refuse matter" is attested from c. 1400. Waste basket first recorded 1850.
waste (adj.) Look up waste at Dictionary.com
wasted (adj.) Look up wasted at Dictionary.com
late 14c., "enfeebled," past participle adjective from waste (v.). Slang meaning "intoxicated" is from 1950s.
wasteful (adj.) Look up wasteful at Dictionary.com
early 14c., "destructive," from waste (n.) + -ful. Meaning "lavish" is from mid-15c. Related: Wastefully; wastefulness.
wasteland (n.) Look up wasteland at Dictionary.com
1825 as one word, from waste (adj.) + land (n.). Figurative sense is attested from 1868. Eliot's poem is from 1922.
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
wastewater (n.) Look up wastewater at Dictionary.com
also waste-water, mid-15c., from waste (adj.) + water (n.1).
wastrel (n.) Look up wastrel at Dictionary.com
"spendthrift, idler," 1847, from waste (v.) + pejorative suffix -rel. Earlier "something useless or imperfect" (1790).
wat (n.) Look up wat at Dictionary.com
Thai Buddhist temple, said to be from Sanskrit vata "enclosure, grove."
watch (v.) Look up watch at Dictionary.com
Old English wæccan "keep watch, be awake," from Proto-Germanic *wakjan, from PIE *weg- (2) "to be strong, lively;" essentially the same word as Old English wacian "be or remain awake" (see wake (v.)); perhaps a Northumbrian form of it. Meaning "be vigilant" is from c. 1200. That of "to guard (someone or some place), stand guard" is late 14c. Sense of "to observe, keep under observance" is mid-15c. Related: Watched; watching.
watch (n.) Look up watch at Dictionary.com
Old English wæcce "a watching, state of being or remaining awake, wakefulness;" also "act or practice of refraining from sleep for devotional or penitential purposes;" from wæccan (see watch (v.)). From c. 1200 as "one of the periods into which the night is divided," in reference to ancient times translating Latin vigilia, Greek phylake, Hebrew ashmoreth.

On þis niht beð fowuer niht wecches: Biforen euen þe bilimpeð to children; Mid-niht ðe bilimpeð to frumberdligges; hanecrau þe bilimpeð þowuene men; morgewile to alde men. [Trinity Homilies, c. 1200]
From mid-13c. as "a shift of guard duty; an assignment as municipal watchman;" late 13c. as "person or group obligated to patrol a town (especially at night) to keep order, etc." Also in Middle English, "the practice of remaining awake at night for purposes of debauchery and dissipation;" hence wacches of wodnesse "late-night revels and debauchery." The alliterative combination watch and ward preserves the old distinction of watch for night-time municipal patrols and ward for guarding by day; in combination, they meant "continuous vigilance."

Military sense of "military guard, sentinel" is from late 14c. General sense of "careful observation, watchfulness, vigilance" is from late 14c.; to keep watch is from late 14c. Meaning "period of time in which a division of a ship's crew remains on deck" is from 1580s. The meaning "small timepiece" is from 1580s, developing from that of "a clock to wake up sleepers" (mid-15c.).
watch-chain (n.) Look up watch-chain at Dictionary.com
1739, from watch (n.) in the "timepiece" sense + chain (n.).
watch-work (n.) Look up watch-work at Dictionary.com
1660s, from watch (n.) in the "timepiece" sense + work (n.).
watchdog (n.) Look up watchdog at Dictionary.com
also watch-dog, c. 1600, from watch (v.) + dog (n.). Figurative sense is attested by 1845.
watcher (n.) Look up watcher at Dictionary.com
late 14c. (early 13c. as a surname), agent noun from watch (v.).
watchful (adj.) Look up watchful at Dictionary.com
c. 1500, waccheful, from watch (v.) + -ful. Related: Watchfulness.
watchmaker (n.) Look up watchmaker at Dictionary.com
1620s, from watch (n.) in the "timepiece" sense + maker.
watchman (n.) Look up watchman at Dictionary.com
watchtower (n.) Look up watchtower at Dictionary.com
also watch-tower, 1540s, from watch (v.) + tower (n.).
watchword (n.) Look up watchword at Dictionary.com
also watch-word, c. 1400, "password," from watch (n.) in the military sense of "period of standing guard duty" + word (n.). In the sense of "motto, slogan" it dates from 1738.
water (n.1) Look up water at Dictionary.com
Old English wæter, from Proto-Germanic *watar (cognates: Old Saxon watar, Old Frisian wetir, Dutch water, Old High German wazzar, German Wasser, Old Norse vatn, Gothic wato "water"), from PIE *wod-or, from root *wed- (1) "water, wet" (cognates: Hittite watar, Sanskrit udrah, Greek hydor, Old Church Slavonic and Russian voda, Lithuanian vanduo, Old Prussian wundan, Gaelic uisge "water;" Latin unda "wave").

water (v.) Look up water at Dictionary.com
Old English wæterian "moisten, irrigate, supply water to; lead (cattle) to water;" from water (n.1). Meaning "to dilute" is attested from late 14c.; now usually as water down (1850). To make water "urinate" is recorded from early 15c. Related: Watered; watering.
water (n.2) Look up water at Dictionary.com
water-closet (n.) Look up water-closet at Dictionary.com
"privy with a waste-pipe and means to carry off the discharge by a flush of water," 1755, from water (n.1) + closet (n.).
water-ice (n.) Look up water-ice at Dictionary.com
"sugared water, flavored and frozen," 1818, from water (n.1) + ice (n.).
water-lily (n.) Look up water-lily at Dictionary.com
1540s, from water (n.1) + lily (n.).
water-moccasin (n.) Look up water-moccasin at Dictionary.com
type of snake in the U.S. South, 1821, from water (n.1) + moccasin (q.v.).
water-pipe (n.) Look up water-pipe at Dictionary.com
c. 1400, "conduit for water," from water (n.1) + pipe (n.1). The smoking sense is first attested 1824.
water-ski (n.) Look up water-ski at Dictionary.com
1931, from water (n.1) + ski (n.). As a verb from 1953.
water-table (n.) Look up water-table at Dictionary.com
"level of saturated ground," 1879, from water (n.1) + table (n.).
water-wheel (n.) Look up water-wheel at Dictionary.com
c. 1400, from water (n.1) + wheel (n.).
waterbed (n.) Look up waterbed at Dictionary.com
also water-bed, 1610s, "a bed on board a ship," from water (n.1) + bed (n.). As a water-tight mattress filled with water, it is recorded from 1844, originally for invalids to prevent bedsores. Reinvented c. 1970 as a stylish furnishing.
waterboard (n.) Look up waterboard at Dictionary.com
1610s (n.), "gutter," from water (n.1) + board (n.1). Waterboarding as the name of a type of torture is from 2005, but the practice is older.
watercolor (n.) Look up watercolor at Dictionary.com
also water-color, 1590s, "pigment that dissolves in water," from water (n.1) + color (n.). Meaning "picture painted in watercolors" is attested from 1854.
watercourse (n.) Look up watercourse at Dictionary.com
also water-course, c. 1500, from water (n.1) + course (n.).
watercress (n.) Look up watercress at Dictionary.com
also water-cress, c. 1300, from water (n.1) + cress. Compare Middle Low German, Middle Dutch waterkerse, German wasserkresse. It grows in or near streams.
waterfall (n.) Look up waterfall at Dictionary.com
Old English wætergefeall; see water (n.1) + fall (n.). The modern English word is perhaps a re-formation from c. 1500. Similar formation in German wasserfall, Old Norse vatnfall.
Waterford Look up Waterford at Dictionary.com
city in southeastern Ireland; 1783 in reference to a type of glassware manufactured there.
waterfowl (n.) Look up waterfowl at Dictionary.com
early 14c., from water (n.1) + fowl (n.). Similar formation in Old High German wazzarvogel, Dutch watervogel.
waterfront (n.) Look up waterfront at Dictionary.com
also water-front, 1834, American English, from water (n.1) + front (n.). To cover the waterfront "deal with thoroughly" is attested from 1913; I Cover the Waterfront was a 1932 best-seller by San Diego newspaperman Max Miller.
watergate (n.) Look up watergate at Dictionary.com
mid-14c., "channel for water;" late 14c., "flood-gate;" from water (n.1) + gate (n.). The name of a building in Washington, D.C., that housed the headquarters of the Democratic Party in the 1972 presidential election, it was burglarized June 17, 1972, which led to the resignation of President Nixon.
watering (n.) Look up watering at Dictionary.com
Old English wæterunge "a carrying water," verbal noun from water (v.). From late 14c. as "a soaking with water;" mid-15c. as "a giving water to (an animal);" c. 1600 as "salivation." Watering-can is from 1690s (earlier water-can, late 14c.); watering-hole is from 1882 (earlier water-hole, 1670s, watering-place, mid-15c.); by 1965 in the figurative sense "place where people meet and socialize over drinks."
waterline (n.) Look up waterline at Dictionary.com
also water-line, 1620s, line where the water rises to on the hull of a ship afloat, from water (n.1) + line (n.).
waterlogged (adj.) Look up waterlogged at Dictionary.com
1759 (in an account of the Battle of Lagos in "Universal Magazine," September), from water (n.1) + log (n.); the notion apparently is of "reduce to a log-like condition."
WATER LOGGED, the state of a ship when, by receiving a great quantity of water into her hold, by leaking, &c., she has become heavy and inactive upon the sea, so as to yield without resistance to the efforts of every wave rushing over her decks. As, in this dangerous situation, the center of gravity is no longer fixed, but fluctuating from place to place, the stability of the ship is utterly lost. She is therefore almost totally deprived of the use of her sails, which would operate to overset her, or press the head under water. Hence there is no resource for the crew, except to free her by the pumps, or to abandon her by the boats as soon as possible. [William Falconer, "An Universal Dictionary of the Marine," London, 1784]
The verb waterlog (1779) appears to be a back-formation.
Waterloo (n.) Look up Waterloo at Dictionary.com
village near Brussels; the great battle there took place June 18, 1815; extended sense of "a final, crushing defeat" is first attested 1816 in letter of Lord Byron. The second element in the place name is from Flemish loo "sacred wood."
watermark (n.) Look up watermark at Dictionary.com
also water-mark, 1708, "distinctive mark on paper," from water (n.1) + mark (n.1). Similar formation in German wassermarke. Not produced by water, but probably so called because it looks like a wet spot. The verb is recorded from 1866. Related: Watermarked.
watermelon (n.) Look up watermelon at Dictionary.com
1610s, from water (n.1) + melon. So called for being full of thin juice. Compare French melon d'eau.
waterproof (adj.) Look up waterproof at Dictionary.com
also water-proof, 1725, from water (n.1) + proof (n.). Noun meaning "garment of waterproof material" is from 1799. The verb is first recorded 1843. Related: Waterproofed; waterproofing.
watershed (n.) Look up watershed at Dictionary.com
"line separating waters flowing into different rivers," 1803, from water (n.1) + shed in a topographical sense of "ridge of high ground between two valleys or lower ground, a divide," perhaps from shed (v.) in its extended noun sense of "the part of the hair of the head" (14c.). Perhaps a loan-translation of German Wasser-scheide. Figurative sense is attested from 1878. Meaning "ground of a river system" is from 1878.
waterspout (n.) Look up waterspout at Dictionary.com
watertight (adj.) Look up watertight at Dictionary.com
also water-tight, late 14c., from water (n.1) + tight (adj.). Figurative use from 1640s.