Obs. In 4 wa(a)stete, wastyte. [f. WASTE a. + -(I)TY. Cf. OF. gasteté (gl. L. vastitas).] Desolation. (Only in Wyclif’s rendering of vastitas in the Vulgate.)
1382. Wyclif, Deut. xxviii. 53. Thow shalt ete the fruyt of thi woombe … in angwish and wastete [Vulg. vastitate; 1388 distriyng], with the which thin enemye shal oppresse thee. Ibid., 57. Thei shulen ete hem priuely, for the scaarsnesse of alle thingis in the seege and waastete [Vulg. vastitate; 1388 distriyng], bi the which thin enemy shal oppresse thee. Ibid., Jer. vi. 7. Wickedness and wastyte.
