late 14c., "waste parts, refuse," especially the waste meat and entrails of a bird or animal used as food, from off (prep.) + fall (v.). The notion is "that which is allowed to 'fall off' the butcher's block as being of little use. Compare Middle Dutch afval, German abfall "waste, rubbish." Also compare English offcorn (mid-14c.) "refuse left after winnowing grain," offcast (late 14c.) "parts of plants normally uneaten." As verbs, Middle English had offhew, offhurl, offshred, offsmite.

"ravage, act of devastating; state of being devastated," mid-15c., from Medieval Latin devastationem (nominative devastatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin devastare "lay waste completely," from de- "completely" (see de-) + vastare "lay waste," from vastus "empty, desolate," from PIE *wasto-, extended suffixed form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out."

"rough, irregular stones broken from larger masses," especially "waste fragments from the demolition of a building, etc.," late 14c., robeyl, from Anglo-French *robel "bits of broken stone," which is of obscure origin, apparently related to rubbish "waste fragments" [OED], but also possibly from Old French robe (see rob). Middle English Compendium compares Anglo-Latin rubisum, robusium.

"diminish, become less, shrink," 1590s (Shakespeare), apparently diminutive and frequentative of dwine "waste or pine away," from Middle English dwinen "waste away, fade, vanish," from Old English dwinan, from Proto-Germanic *dwinana (source also of Dutch dwijnen "to vanish," Old Norse dvina, Danish tvine "to pine away," Low German dwinen), from PIE *dheu- (3) "to die" (see die (v.)). Related: Dwindled; dwindling.