reserve vs waste

reserve

noun
  • A tract of land reserved, or set apart, for a particular purpose 

  • A reserve price in an auction. 

  • Wine held back and aged before being sold. 

  • A body of troops kept in the rear of an army drawn up for battle, reserved to support the other lines as occasion may require; a force or body of troops kept for an exigency. 

  • Absence of color or decoration; the state of being left plain. 

  • The act of reserving or keeping back; reservation; exception. 

  • A resist. 

  • Restraint of freedom in words or actions; backwardness; caution in personal behavior. 

  • A preparation used on an object being electroplated to fix the limits of the deposit. 

  • In exhibitions, a distinction indicating that the recipient will get a prize in the event of another person being disqualified. 

  • A member of a team who does not participate from the start of the game, but can be used to replace tired or injured team-mates. 

  • A tract of land set apart for the use of an Aboriginal group; Indian reserve (compare US reservation.) 

  • Funds kept on hand to meet planned or unplanned financial requirements. 

  • A group or pile of cards dealt out at the beginning of a patience or solitaire game to be used during play. 

  • A natural resource known to exist but not currently exploited. 

verb
  • To keep back; to retain. 

  • To book in advance; to make a reservation. 

  • To keep in store for future or special use. 

waste

noun
  • A large tract of uncultivated land. 

  • A place that has been laid waste or destroyed. 

  • A cause of action which may be brought by the owner of a future interest in property against the current owner of that property to prevent the current owner from degrading the value or character of the property, either intentionally or through neglect. 

  • Destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; see "to lay waste". 

  • A disused mine or part of one. 

  • Excrement or urine. 

  • Gradual loss or decay. 

  • Material derived by mechanical and chemical erosion from the land, carried by streams to the sea. 

  • The part of the land of a manor (of whatever size) not used for cultivation or grazing, nowadays treated as common land. 

  • The action or progress of wasting; extravagant consumption or ineffectual use. 

  • Excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish. 

  • A vast expanse of water. 

  • A wasteland; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness or desert. 

  • Large abundance of something, specifically without it being used. 

  • A decaying of the body by disease; atrophy; wasting away. 

adj
  • Barren; desert. 

  • Superfluous; needless. 

  • Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess. 

  • Useless and contemptible. 

  • Dismal; gloomy; cheerless. 

  • Unfortunate; disappointing. 

verb
  • To devastate; to destroy. 

  • To kill; to murder. 

  • To gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail. 

  • To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly. 

  • To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to deteriorate; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out. 

  • To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually. 

  • To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay. 

How often have the words reserve and waste occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )