orphan vs waif

orphan

noun
  • A person, especially a minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died. 

  • A single line of type, beginning a paragraph, at the bottom of a column or page. 

  • A person, especially a minor, whose parents have permanently abandoned them. 

  • Any unreferenced object. 

  • A young animal with no mother. 

  • Anything that is unsupported, as by its source, provider or caretaker, by reason of the supporter's demise or decision to abandon. 

adj
  • Deprived of parents (also orphaned). 

  • Remaining after the removal of some form of support. 

verb
  • To deprive of parents (used almost exclusively in the passive) 

  • To make unavailable, as by removing the last remaining pointer or reference to. 

waif

noun
  • A person (especially a child) who is homeless and without means of support; also, a person excluded from society; an outcast. 

  • A plant introduced in a place outside its native range but is not persistently naturalized. 

  • A very thin person. 

  • Something found, especially if without an owner; something which comes along, as it were, by chance. 

  • A small flag used as a signal. 

  • Something (such as clouds or smoke) carried aloft by the wind. 

verb
  • To cast aside or reject, and thus make a waif. 

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