garbage

English

Alternative forms

• garbidge (obsolete or eye dialect)

Etymology

From Middle English "the offal of a fowl, giblets, kitchen waste", originally "refuse, what is purged away" from Old French garber ‎(“to refine, make neat or clean”), of Germanic origin, akin to Old High German garawan ‎(“to prepare, make ready”), Old English ġearwian ‎(“to make ready, adorn”). More at garb, yare, gear

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑɹbɪd͡ʒ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːbɪd͡ʒ/
• (US, humorous, imitating the French pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɡɑ(ɹ)ˈbɑːʒ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gar‧bage

Noun

garbage ‎(uncountable) (chiefly US, Canada)

1. (obsolete) The bowels of an animal; refuse parts of flesh; offal.
2. Food waste material of any kind.

   Garbage is collected on Tuesdays; rubbish on Fridays

3. Useless or disposable material; waste material of any kind.

   The garbage truck collects all residential municipal waste.

4. A place or receptacle for waste material.

   He threw the newspaper into the garbage.

5. Nonsense; gibberish.
6. (often attributively) Something or someone worthless.
   • 2009, David R. Portney, 129 More Seminar Speaking Success Tips, ISBN 9780967851488, p. 8:

     Forget about that garbage advice to “act natural”.

Synonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the template {{sense|"gloss"}}, substituting a short version of the definition for "gloss".

• junk, refuse, rubbish, trash, waste
• See also Wikisaurus:trash

Antonyms

• artifact, asset, catch, find, prize, recyclable, resource, treasure, valuable

Derived terms

Terms derived from garbage

garbage bag garbage bin garbage can garbage collect garbage collector garbage collection

garbage disposal garbage dump garbage in, garbage out garbage man garbage mitt garbage scow

garbage time garbage truck garbo garbologist

Translations

waste material

• Albanian: mbeturinë (sq) f
• Arabic: زُبَالَة f ‎(zubāla), نُفَايَة f ‎(nufāya), قُمَامَة f ‎(qumāma), مُخَلَّفَات pl ‎(muḵallafāt)
• Armenian: աղբ (hy) ‎(ałb)
• Azeri: zibil (az), tullantı, çöp (az)
• Belarusian: сме́цце n ‎(smjéccje)
• Bengali: আবর্জনা ‎(abôrjôna), ছার ‎(char)
• Breton: stronk m
• Bulgarian: боклу́к (bg) m ‎(boklúk), отпа́дък (bg) m ‎(otpádǎk), смет (bg) m ‎(smet)
• Burmese: အမှိုက် (my) ‎(a.hmuik), အမှိုကျ ‎(a.hmuikya.)
• Chamicuro: s̈hutechi
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 垃圾 ‎(laap⁶ saap³)

  Mandarin: 垃圾 (zh) ‎(lājī, lèsè), 廢物 (zh), 废物 (zh) ‎(fèiwù), 破爛 (zh), 破烂 (zh) ‎(pòlàn, pòlànr)

  Min Nan: 糞埽 (zh-min-nan), 粪埽 ‎(pùn-sò)

• Czech: odpad (cs) m, odpadky pl
• Danish: affald (da) n
• Dutch: huisvuil (nl) n, vuilnis (nl) f, n, vuil (nl) n, afval (nl) n (Belgium)
• Esperanto: rubo
• Estonian: jäätmed, rämps
• Finnish: roskat (fi) pl, jätteet, jäte (fi)
• French: ordures (fr) pl, déchet (fr) m
• Georgian: ნარჩენები ‎(narčenebi), ნაგავი ‎(nagavi)
• German: Abfall (de) m, Müll (de) m
• Greek: απορρίματα n pl ‎(aporrímata), σκουπίδια (el) n pl ‎(skoupídia)
• Greenlandic: igitat
• Hebrew: זֶבֶל (he) m ‎(zével), אַשְׁפָּה (he) f ‎(ashpa)
• Hindi: कचरा (hi) m ‎(kacrā), मलबा (hi) ‎(malbā)
• Hungarian: szemét (hu), hulladék (hu)
• Icelandic: rusl (is) n
• Ido: eskombro (io)
• Indonesian: sampah (id)
• Irish: bruscar (ga) m
• Italian: immondizia (it) f, spazzatura (it) f, rifiuti (it) pl
• Japanese: ごみ (ja) ‎(gomi), 廃物 (ja) ‎(はいぶつ, haibutsu), がらくた (ja) ‎(garakuta), 廃品 (ja) ‎(はいひん, haihin)
• Kazakh: ескі-құсқы ‎(eski-qusqı), қоқым-соқым ‎(qoqım-soqım)
• Khmer: សំរាម (km) ‎(sɑmraam), ឡាប់សង ‎(lapsɑɑŋ)
• Korean: 쓰레기 (ko) ‎(sseuregi), 오물 (ko) ‎(omul) (汚物 (ko))

• Lao: ຂຍະ ‎(kha nya), ຄຸມຝອຽ ‎(khum fǭi), ມູນຝອຽ ‎(mūn fǭi), ສັງການ ‎(sang kān)
• Latin: purgamentum n, quisquiliae (la) f pl
• Latvian: atkritumi m pl
• Lithuanian: šiukšlių
• Macedonian: ѓубре n ‎(ǵubre)
• Malay: sampah
• Manx: fooillagh
• Marathi: कचरा ‎(kacrā)
• Mongolian: хог (mn) ‎(hog)
• Nigerian Pidgin: doti-doti
• Norwegian: avfall (no) n, søppel (no) n, boss n
• Old English: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: آشخال (fa) ‎(âšxâl), آشغال (fa) ‎(âšğâl)
• Polish: śmieci pl, odpady m pl
• Portuguese: lixo (pt) m
• Romagnol: rùsco m
• Romanian: gunoi (ro) n
• Russian: му́сор (ru) m ‎(músor), отбро́сы (ru) m pl ‎(otbrósy), хлам (ru) m ‎(xlam), сор (ru) m ‎(sor)
• Scottish Gaelic: sgudal m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: отпад m, смеће n

  Roman: otpad (sh) m, smeće (sh) n

• Slovak: odpad m, odpadky pl
• Slovene: odpadek m, smet
• Spanish: basura (es) f, desperdicios (es) m pl
• Tajik: ахлот (tg) ‎(axlot), хокрӯба ‎(xokrüba)
• Tatar: чүп-чәр ‎(çüp-çär)
• Telugu: చెత్త (te) ‎(cetta)
• Thai: กาก (th) ‎(gàak), ขยะ (th) ‎(kàyà)
• Turkish: çöp (tr), süprüntü (tr)
• Turkmen: çöp, zibil (tk)
• Ukrainian: сміття́ n ‎(smittjá)
• Urdu: ملبه ‎(malba)
• Uzbek: eski-tuski (uz), axlat (uz), chiqindi (uz)
• Vietnamese: rác (vi)
• Welsh: ysbwriel m
• West Frisian: ôffal n
• Yiddish: מיסט n ‎(mist), אָפּפֿאַל m ‎(opfal)

Verb

garbage ‎(third-person singular simple present garbages, present participle garbaging, simple past and past participle garbaged) (chiefly US, Canada)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To eviscerate.
   • 1674, John Josselyn, Two Voyages to New England, Made During the Years 1638-63 (quoted in William Butts Mershon, The Passenger Pigeon, 1907, The Outing Publishing Company):

     I have bought at Boston a dozen Pidgeons ready pulled and garbidged for three pence.

Synonyms

• gut
• disembowel
• eviscerate

See also

• Wikipedia article on garbage