(Britain, law, archaic) Often in the form waif and stray, waifs and strays: an article of movable property found of which the owner is not known, such as goods washed up on a beach or thrown away by an absconding thief; such items belong to the Crown, which may grant the right of ownership to them to a lord of a manor.
(by extension) A very thin person.
(by extension, botany) A plant introduced in a place outside its native range but is not persistently naturalized.
(nautical, chiefly whaling, historical) A small flag used as a signal.
A person (especially a child) who is homeless and without means of support; also, a person excluded from society; an outcast.
Something (such as clouds or smoke) carried aloft by the wind.
Something found, especially if without an owner; something which comes along, as it were, by chance.
verb
(transitive) To cast aside or reject, and thus make a waif.
