Dickens vs. Waif

Dickensnoun

(euphemistic) The devil.

Dickensnoun

In the phrase the dickens (Used as an intensifier).

Dickensnoun

A disturbance or row.

Dickens

The devil.

Dickensnoun

a word used in exclamations of confusion;

Dickensnoun

English writer whose novels depicted and criticized social injustice (1812-1870)

Waifnoun

Often in the form waif and stray, waifs and strays: an article of movable property found of which the owner is not known, such as goods washed up on a beach or thrown away by an absconding thief; such items belong to the Crown, which may grant the right of ownership to them to a lord of a manor.

Waifnoun

(figuratively)

Waifnoun

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

Waifnoun

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

Waifnoun

(by extension) A very thin person.

Waifnoun

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

Waifnoun

A small flag used as a signal.

Waifnoun

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

Waifverb

(intransitive) To be cast aside or rejected, and thus become a waif.

Waifnoun

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.

Waifnoun

Hence, anything found, or without an owner; that which comes along, as it were, by chance.

Waifnoun

A wanderer; a castaway; a stray; a homeless child.

Waifnoun

a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned;

Waif

A waif (from the Old French guaif, ) is a living creature removed, by hardship, loss or other helpless circumstance, from its original surroundings. The most common usage of the word is to designate a homeless, forsaken or orphaned child, or someone whose appearance is evocative of the same.