Found 2 items, similar to waif.
English → English (WordNet) Definition: waif waif n : a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned; “street children beg or steal in order to survive” [syn: street child]
English → English (gcide) Definition: Waif Waif \Waif\, n. [OF. waif, gaif, as adj., lost, unclaimed, chose gaive a waif, LL. wayfium, res vaivae; of Scand. origin. See Waive.] [1913 Webster] 1. (Eng. Law.) Goods found of which the owner is not known; originally, such goods as a pursued thief threw away to prevent being apprehended, which belonged to the king unless the owner made pursuit of the felon, took him, and brought him to justice. --Blackstone. [1913 Webster] 2. Hence, anything found, or without an owner; that which comes along, as it were, by chance. “Rolling in his mind old waifs of rhyme.” --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] 3. A wanderer; a castaway; a stray; a homeless child. [1913 Webster] A waif Desirous to return, and not received. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]