Waste (?), v. i. 1. To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value, or the like, gradually; to be consumed; to dwindle; to grow less.
The time wasteth night and day. Chaucer.
The barrel of meal shall not waste. 1 Kings xvii. 14.
But man dieth, and wasteth away. Job xiv. 10.
2. (Sporting) To procure or sustain a reduction of flesh; — said of a jockey in preparation for a race, etc.