garbage

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Late Middle English garbage (“the offal of a fowl, giblets, kitchen waste”, originally “refuse, what is purged away”), from Anglo-Norman, from Old French garber (“to refine, make neat or clean”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *garwijan (“to make ready”).

Akin to Old High German garawan (“to prepare, make ready”), Old English ġearwian (“to make ready, adorn”). More at garb, yare, gear

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

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

  1. Food waste material of any kind.
    Garbage is collected on Tuesdays; rubbish on Fridays
  2. Useless or disposable material; waste material of any kind.
    The garbage truck collects all residential municipal waste.
  3. A place or receptacle for waste material.
    He threw the newspaper into the garbage.
  4. Nonsense; gibberish.
    This machine translation is garbage
  5. (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”.
  6. (obsolete) The bowels of an animal; refuse parts of flesh; offal.

Synonyms[edit]

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Antonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from garbage

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (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]

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garbage (not comparable)

  1. (informal) bad, crap, shitty
    He gave me some pretty garbage advice last night.
    2010, Nicholas Rombes, A Cultural Dictionary of Punk: 1974-1982:
    half that shit you morons listen to with pride is totally garbage
    2011, Ezekiel Dayo Adetunji, Power in the Spoken Word!, page 110:
    If you have been with a man for more than five years and both of you have not planned to marry one another, the relationship is completely garbage, and you can do but nothing with it more than having a sexual life with one another.
    2021, Giselle Renarde, Play It On My Radio: A Diary In Music, page 309:
    The last time I had access to a therapist was 20 years ago, and that was a pretty garbage experience.

See also[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From a derivative of Old French garber.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɡarˈbaːd͡ʒ(ə)/

Noun[edit]

garbage (plural garbages)

  1. bird dung
  2. entrails, offal

Descendants[edit]

  • English: garbage
  • Yola: graabache, graapish

References[edit]

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