scavenger
(noun) any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying organic matter
magpie, scavenger, pack rat
(noun) someone who collects things that have been discarded by others
scavenger
(noun) a chemical agent that is added to a chemical mixture to counteract the effects of impurities
Source: WordNet® 3.1
scavenger (plural scavengers)
Someone who scavenges, especially one who searches through rubbish for food or useful things.
An animal that feeds on decaying matter such as carrion.
(UK, obsolete) A street sweeper.
(UK, historical) A child employed to pick up loose cotton from the floor in a cotton mill.
(chemistry) A substance used to remove impurities from the air or from a solution.
scavenger (third-person singular simple present scavengers, present participle scavengering, simple past and past participle scavengered)
(archaic) To scavenge.
(archaic) To clean the rubbish from a street, etc.
Source: Wiktionary
Scav"en*ger, n. Etym: [OE. scavager an officer with various duties, orginally attending to scavage, fr. OE. & E. scavage. See Scavage, Show, v.]
Definition: A person whose employment is to clean the streets of a city, by scraping or sweeping, and carrying off the fifth. The name is also applied to any animal which devours refuse, carrion, or anything injurious to health. Scavenger beetle (Zoƶl.), any beetle which feeds on decaying substances, as the carrion beetle.
– Scavanger crab (Zoƶl.), any crab which feeds on dead animals, as the spider crab.
– Scavenger's daughter Etym: [corrupt. of Skevington's daughter], an instrument of torture invented by Sir W. Skevington, which so compressed the body as to force the blood to flow from nostrils. and sometimes from the hands and feet. Am. Cyc.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
26 February 2025
(adjective) marked by strong resentment or cynicism; āan acrimonious disputeā; ābitter about the divorceā
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
