litter
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See also: Litter
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From French litière, from lit (“bed”), from Latin lectus; confer Ancient Greek λέκτρον (léktron). Had the sense ‘bed’ in very early English, but then came to mean ‘portable couch’, ‘bedding’, ‘strewn rushes (for animals)’, etc.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈlɪtə(ɹ)/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈlɪtɚ/, [ˈlɪɾɚ]
- Rhymes: -ɪtə(r)
- Homophone: lidder (US)
Audio (US) (file)
Noun[edit]
litter (countable and uncountable, plural litters)
- (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.
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene vi]:
- There is a litter ready; lay him in 't.
- (collective, countable) The offspring of a mammal born in one birth.
- (Can we date this quote by L'Estrange and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- A wolf came to a sow, and very kindly offered to take care of her litter.
- (Can we date this quote by L'Estrange and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- (uncountable) Material used as bedding for animals.
- (uncountable) Collectively, items discarded on the ground.
- (Can we date this quote by Jonathan Swift and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- Strephon […] / Stole in, and took a strict survey / Of all the litter as it lay.
- (Can we date this quote by Jonathan Swift and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- (uncountable) Absorbent material used in an animal's litter tray
- (uncountable) Layer of fallen leaves and similar organic matter in a forest floor.
- A covering of straw for plants.
- (Can we date this quote by Evelyn and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- Take off the litter from your kernel beds.
- (Can we date this quote by Evelyn and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
Synonyms[edit]
- (platform designed to carry a person or a load): palanquin, sedan chair, stretcher, cacolet
- (items discarded on the ground): waste, rubbish, garbage (US), trash (US), junk
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms
Translations[edit]
platform designed to carry a person or a load
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animals born in one birth
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bedding for animals
discarded items
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material for litter tray
layer of dead leaves and other organic matter
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. 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)
- (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.
- (transitive) To scatter carelessly about.
- (transitive) To strew (a place) with scattered articles.
- (Can we date this quote by Jonathan Swift and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- the room with volumes littered round
- (Can we date this quote by Jonathan Swift and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- (transitive) To give birth to, used of animals.
- (Can we date this quote by Sir Thomas Browne and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us.
- 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:
- The son that she did litter here, / A freckled whelp hagborn.
- (Can we date this quote by Sir Thomas Browne and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- (intransitive) To produce a litter of young.
- 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 12, in The History of England from the Accession of James II:
- A desert […] where the she-wolf still littered.
- (transitive) To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.
- (intransitive) To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.
- (Can we date this quote by Habington and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- The inn where he and his horse littered.
- (Can we date this quote by Habington and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it
give birth
Anagrams[edit]
Norman[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old French luitier, loitier, luiter (compare French lutter), from Vulgar Latin luctāre}, from Latin luctor, luctārī (“struggle, wrestle, fight”).
Verb[edit]
litter
Derived terms[edit]
- litteux (“wrestler”)˩
Categories:
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- Norman terms inherited from Old French
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- Norman terms inherited from Vulgar Latin
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