trash vs waste

trash

noun
  • Useless physical things to be discarded; rubbish; refuse. 

  • A container into which things are discarded. 

  • Something worthless or of poor quality. 

  • (fandom slang, humorous, uncountable) A fan who is excessively obsessed with their fandom and its fanworks. 

  • The disused stems, leaves, or vines of a crop, as well as any weeds mixed therewith, which will either be plowed in as green manure or be removed by raking, grazing, or burning. 

  • A dubious assertion, either for appearing untrue or for being excessively boastful. 

  • (slang, derogatory) People of low social status or class. (See, for example, white trash or Eurotrash.) 

  • Temporary storage on disk for files that the user has deleted, allowing them to be recovered if necessary. 

  • Loose-leaf tobacco of a low grade, with much less commercial value than the principal grades. 

verb
  • To disrespect someone or something 

  • To free from trash, or worthless matter; hence, to lop; to crop. 

  • To make into a mess. 

  • To treat as trash, or worthless matter; hence, to spurn, humiliate, or crush. 

  • To hold back by a trash or leash, as a dog in pursuing game; hence, to retard, encumber, or restrain; to clog; to hinder vexatiously. 

  • To discard. 

  • To beat soundly in a game. 

waste

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

  • 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. 

  • A vast expanse of water. 

  • A large tract of uncultivated land. 

  • 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. 

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. 

adj
  • Barren; desert. 

  • Superfluous; needless. 

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

  • Useless and contemptible. 

  • Dismal; gloomy; cheerless. 

  • Unfortunate; disappointing. 

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