Waif vs Wif - What's the difference?
waif | wif |
(obsolete) 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.
(obsolete) Hence, anything found, or without an owner; that which comes along, as it were, by chance.
A wanderer; a castaway; a stray; a homeless child.
* 1912 : (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (Tarzan of the Apes), Chapter 5
A plant that has been introduced but is not persistently naturalized.
(informal, dialectal, eye dialect) with
* 1998 , Ted Shine, Contributions , ISBN 0822202387, page 31:
* 2000 , Jan King, It'a A Girl Thing: The Hilarious Truth About Women , ISBN 0740711318, page 161:
* 2002 , Stan Hayes, The Rough English Equivalent , ISBN 059524579X, page 324:
As a noun waif
is (obsolete) 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.As a preposition wif is
(informal|dialectal|eye dialect) with.waif
English
(Webster 1913)Noun
(en noun)- Tenderly Kala nursed her little waif , wondering silently why it did not gain strength and agility as did the little apes of other mothers. It was nearly a year from the time the little fellow came into her possession before he would walk alone, and as for climbing--my, but how stupid he was!
See also
* waftwif
English
Alternative forms
* wid (informal ) * with * wiv (informal )Preposition
(English prepositions)- That's what I mo' wear wif my shoes.
- I been at the gym gettin' down wif my peeps.
- If I don' have no problem wif my high school test?