was

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   first-person singular simple past indicative of be.

   I was castigated and scorned.

2. 2
   verb

   third-person singular simple past indicative of be.

   It was a really humongous slice of cake.

3. 3
   verb

   Used in phrases with existential there when the semantic subject is (usually third-person) plural.

   There was three of them there.

4. 4
   verb

   second-person singular simple past indicative of be; were.

   You was pleased to cast a favourable eye upon me.

5. 5
   verb

   first-person plural simple past indicative of be; were.

   “What happened here, Hadley?” the chief asked. “We was robbed, damn it, we was robbed.”

6. 6
   verb

   third-person plural simple past indicative of be; were.

   When the reflection in the glass that I held to my lips now baby / Revealed the tears that was on my face, yeah

7. 7
   name

   A surname.

8. 8
   noun

   plural of WA

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes- Proto-Germanic *was Old English wæs Middle English was English was From Middle English was, from Old English wæs, from Proto-Germanic *was, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂we-h₂wós-e from *h₂wes- (“to reside”), whence also vestal. See also Scots was, West Frisian was (dated, wie is generally preferred today), Dutch was, Low German was, German war, Swedish var); also Kamkata-viri vos-, Sanskrit उवास (uvā́sa). The paradigm of “to be” has been since the time of Proto-Germanic a synthesis of three originally distinct verb stems. The infinitive form be is from…