outcast vs waif

outcast

noun
  • Synonym of outsider: someone who does not belong, a misfit. 

  • The amount of increase in the bulk of grain during malting. 

  • One that has been excluded from a society or system, a pariah, a leper. 

  • A quarrel. 

verb
  • To cast out; to banish. 

adj
  • That has been cast out; banished, ostracized. 

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 outcast and waif occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )