litter

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See also: Litter

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English lytere, litere, from Anglo-Norman litiere, from Late Latin lectuāria (“bedding”), from Latin lectus (“bed”). Compare French litière.

Had the sense of ‘bed’ in very early English, but then came to mean ‘portable couch’, ‘bedding’, ‘strewn rushes (for animals)’, etc.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

litter (countable and uncountable, plural litters)

  1. (countable) A platform mounted on two shafts, or a more elaborate construction, designed to be carried by two (or more) people to transport one (in luxury models sometimes more) third person(s) or (occasionally in the elaborate version) a cargo, such as a religious idol.
    Synonyms: palanquin, sedan chair, stretcher, cacolet, lectica
    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vi]:
      There is a litter ready; lay him in 't.
    • 1922, Dhalla, Maneckji Nusservanji, Zoroastrian Civilization‎[1], page 219:
      When they went out, they sat in litters, which were curtained.
    • 1942 March, “Notes and News: Monument to a Stillborn Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 88:
      "The Chengtu revolutionaries were fantastically colourful in the Szechwanese manner—they costumed themselves as heroes of the stage and their energies were chiefly occupied in tying ropes across the main streets so that when Imperial officials rode by in their litters they would have to get down and crawl under, losing face.
  2. (collective, countable) The offspring of a mammal born in one birth.
    The runt of the litter is a puppy that is the smallest or weakest among the newborn dogs in a litter .
  3. (uncountable) Material used as bedding for animals.
    sleep in the litter
  4. (uncountable) Collectively, items discarded on the ground.
    Synonyms: waste, rubbish, (US) garbage, (US) trash, junk
    Don't drop litter
    Put litter in the bin
    • 1730, Jonathan Swift, s:The Lady's Dressing Room
      Strephon [...]
      Stole in, and took a strict survey
      Of all the litter as it lay.
    • 1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, page 254:
      The British people seem incapable of avoiding the habit of leaving litter wherever they go, and the railways certainly seem to receive their fair share of it, in carriages and on stations.
  5. (uncountable) Absorbent material used in an animal's litter tray
    the cat's litter
  6. (uncountable) Layer of fallen leaves and similar organic matter in a forest floor.
  7. A covering of straw for plants.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb[edit]

litter (third-person singular simple present litters, present participle littering, simple past and past participle littered)

  1. (intransitive) To drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it (as discarding in public areas rather than trash receptacles).
    By tossing the bottle out the window, he was littering.
  2. (transitive) To scatter carelessly about.
  3. (transitive) To strew (a place) with scattered articles.
  4. (transitive) To give birth to, in the manner of animals.
  5. (intransitive) To produce a litter of young.
  6. (transitive) To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.
  7. (intransitive) To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Norman[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old French liter, luitier, from Latin luctārī. Compare French lutter.

Verb[edit]

litter

  1. (Jersey) to wrestle

Derived terms[edit]

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