LITTER

litter

(noun) conveyance consisting of a chair or bed carried on two poles by bearers

litter

(noun) the offspring at one birth of a multiparous mammal

litter

(noun) rubbish carelessly dropped or left about (especially in public places)

litter

(verb) give birth to a litter of animals

litter

(verb) make a place messy by strewing garbage around

litter

(verb) strew; “Cigar butts littered the ground”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

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.

(collective, countable) The offspring of a mammal born in one birth.

(uncountable) Material used as bedding for animals.

(uncountable) Collectively, items discarded on the ground.

(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.

Synonyms

• (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

Verb

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.

(transitive) To give birth to, used of animals.

(intransitive) To produce a litter of young.

(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.

Anagrams

• retilt, tilter, titler

Source: Wiktionary

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Lit"ter, n. Etym: [F. litière, LL. lectaria, fr. L. lectus couch, bed. See Lie to be prostrated, and cf. Coverlet.]

1. A bed or stretcher so arranged that a person, esp. a sick or wounded person, may be easily carried in or upon it. There is a litter ready; lay him in 't. Shak.

2. Straw, hay, etc., scattered on a floor, as bedding for animals to rest on; also, a covering of straw for plants. To crouch in litter of your stable planks. Shak. Take off the litter from your kernel beds. Evelyn.

3. Things lying scattered about in a manner indicating slovenliness; scattered rubbish. Strephon, who found the room was void. Stole in, and took a strict survey Of all the litter as it lay. Swift.

4. Disorder or untidiness resulting from scattered rubbish, or from thongs lying about uncared for; as, a room in a state of litter.

5. The young brought forth at one time, by a sow or other multiparous animal, taken collectively. Also Fig. A wolf came to a sow, and very kindly offered to take care of her litter. D. Estrange. Reflect upon numerous litter of strange, senseless opinions that crawl about the world. South.

Lit"ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Littered; p. pr. & vb. n. Littering.]

1. To supply with litter, as cattle; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall. Tell them how they litter their jades. Bp. Hacke For his ease, well littered was the floor. Dryden.

2. To put into a confused or disordered condition; to strew with scattered articles; as, to litter a room. The room with volumes littered round. Swift.

3. To give birth to; to bear; -- said of brutes, esp. those which produce more than one at a birth, and also of human beings, in abhorrence or contempt. We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us. Sir T. Browne. The son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp hagborn. Shak.

Lit"ter, v. i.

1. To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter. [R.] The inn Where he and his horse littered. Habington.

2. To produce a litter. A desert . . . where the she-wolf still littered. Macaulay.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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