garbage

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

garbidge (obsolete or eye dialect)

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English [Term?] (“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[edit]

(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[edit]

garbage (uncountable) (chiefly US, Canada, Australia)

Food waste material of any kind.
Garbage is collected on Tuesdays; rubbish on Fridays
Useless or disposable material; waste material of any kind.
The garbage truck collects all residential municipal waste.
A place or receptacle for waste material.
He threw the newspaper into the garbage.
Nonsense; gibberish.
(often attributively) Something or someone worthless.
- 2009, David R. Portney, 129 More Seminar Speaking Success Tips‎^[1], →ISBN, page 8:
  Forget about that garbage advice to “act natural”.
(obsolete) The bowels of an animal; refuse parts of flesh; offal.

Synonyms[edit]

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 templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}} to add them to the appropriate sense(s).

junk, refuse, rubbish, trash, waste
See also Thesaurus:trash

Antonyms[edit]

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

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from garbage

Translations[edit]

waste material

Albanian: mbeturinë (sq) f
Arabic: زُبَالَة‎ f (zubāla), نُفَايَة‎ f (nufāya), قُمَامَة‎ (ar) f (qumāma), مُخَلَّفَات‎ pl (muḵallafāt)
Armenian: աղբ (hy) (ałb)
Assamese: জাৱৰ (zawor), আৱৰ্জনা (aworzona)
Azerbaijani: zibil (az), tullantı, çöp (az)
Belarusian: сме́цце n (smjéccje), смяццё n (smjaccjó), сьмяцьцё n (sʹmjacʹcjó) (Taraškievica)
Bengali: আবর্জনা (abôrjna), 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.hmui-kya.)
Catalan: deixalles f pl, escombraries (ca) f pl, brossa (ca) f
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, smetí (cs) n
Danish: affald (da) n
Dutch: huisvuil (nl) n, vuilnis (nl) f or 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, poubelle (fr) f
Galician: lixo m, porcallada f, baldroada f, lorda f, ciscallo m, zudre m, fória f, foira f
Georgian: ნარჩენები (narčenebi), ნაგავი (nagavi)
German: Abfall (de) m, Müll (de) m
Alemannic German: Güsel 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, garr 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 (lapsɑɑng)
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, scrūta n pl
Latvian: atkritumi m pl

Lithuanian: šiukšlių
Macedonian: ѓубре n (ǵubre), смет m (smet)
Malay: sampah
Manx: fooillagh
Maori: karaweta, parahanga
Marathi: कचरा (kacrā)
Mongolian: хог (mn) (hog), хаягдал (mn) (hajagdal)
Nigerian Pidgin: doti-doti
Norwegian: avfall (no) n, søppel (no) n, boss n
Ojibwe: ziigwebinigan
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: ȍtpād (sh) m, smèće (sh) n

Roman: о̏тпа̄д m, смѐће n
Slovak: odpad m, odpadky pl
Slovene: odpadek m, smet f
Spanish: basura (es) f, desperdicios (es) m pl
Swedish: skräp (sv) n
Tajik: ахлот (tg) (axlot), хокрӯба (xokrüba)
Tatar: чүп-чәр (çüp-çär)
Telugu: చెత్త (te) (cetta)
Thai: กาก (th) (gàak), ขยะ (th) (kà-yà)
Tibetan: གད་སྙིགས (gad snyigs)
Turkish: çöp (tr), süprüntü (tr)
Turkmen: çöp, zibil (tk)
Ukrainian: сміття́ n (smittjá)
Urdu: ملبه‎ (malbā)
Uyghur: ئەخلەت‎ (exlet)
Uzbek: eski-tuski (uz), axlat (uz), chiqindi (uz)
Vietnamese: rác (vi)
Welsh: ysbwriel m, sbwriel (cy) m, sothach m
West Frisian: ôffal n
Westrobothnian: rat n, gval m
White Hmong: khib nyiab
Xhosa: inkunkuma class 9/10
Yiddish: מיסט‎ n (mist), אָפּפֿאַל‎ m (opfal)
Zulu: imfucuza class 9/10

Verb[edit]

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

(transitive, chiefly US, Canada, 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: disembowel, eviscerate, gut

Adjective[edit]

garbage (not comparable)

(informal) bad, crap, shitty
He gave me some pretty garbage advice last night.