Verb
lay waste (third-person singular simple present lays waste, present participle laying waste, simple past and past participle laid waste)
(transitive) To completely destroy, especially of a geographical area or region.
Synonyms: devastate, ravage; see also Thesaurus:destroy
lay waste
simple past of lie waste
Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. Henry David Thoreau
Terrorism benefits the Arabs, it may lay waste the Yishuv and shake Zionism. But to follow in the Arabs' footsteps and ape their deeds is to be blind to the gulf between us. Our aims and theirs run counter: methods calculated to further theirs, are ruinous to us. David Ben-Gurion
The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! William Wordsworth
Love knows not distance; it hath no continent; its eyes are for the stars, its feet for the swords; it continueth, though an army lay waste the pasture; it comforteth when there are no medicines; it hath the relish of manna; and by it do men live in the desert. Gilbert Parker
The world is too much with us; late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours. William Wordsworth
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers. William Wordsworth