Thanks, Joy. More or less what I was thinking, but it's nice to know. Kind regards Joy in the Garden of England > My old dictionary has "refuse" and "anything neglected" among the definitions for wastrel and the Oxford dictionary has the word's origin as "late 16th century (denoting a strip of waste land): from the verb Waste + rel" so maybe it is a bit of waste land or a rubbish tip. > > Regards, >   > Joy >