empty

English

Etymology

From Middle English emty, amty, from Old English ǣmtiġ, ǣmettiġ (“vacant, empty, free, idle, unmarried”, literally “without must or obligation, leisurely”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”) + Proto-Germanic *mōtijô, *mōtô (“must, obligation, need”), *mōtiþô (“ability, accommodation”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“measure; to acquire, possess, be in command”). Related to Old English ġeǣmtigian (“to empty”), ǣmetta (“leisure”), mōtan (“can, to be allowed”). More at mote, meet.

The interconsonantal excrescent p is a euphonic insertion dating from Middle English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛmp.ti/, /ˈɛm.ti/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -ɛmpti, -ɛmti
• Hyphenation: emp‧ty

Adjective

empty (comparative emptier, superlative emptiest)

1. Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.

   Synonyms: unoccupied, clear, (obsolete) leer, (rare dialect) toom, clean

   Antonym: full

   an empty purse

   an empty jug

   an empty stomach

   • 1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished : Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001, part 2, page 103:

     […] something in the little man's appearance suggested that he would be sufficiently attentive to his own comfort to choose the emptiest table.

   • 2011 October 23, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1 - 6 Man City”, in BBC Sport‎:

     United's stature is such that one result must not bring the immediate announcement of a shift in the balance of power in Manchester - but the swathes of empty seats around Old Trafford and the wave of attacks pouring towards David de Gea's goal in the second half emphasised that City quite simply have greater firepower and talent in their squad at present.

2. (computing, programming, mathematics) Containing no elements (as of a string, array, or set), opposed to being null (having no valid value).

   Antonym: non-empty

3. (obsolete) Free; clear; devoid; often with of.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 144:

     And I ſhal finde you emptie of that fault, / Right ioyfull of your reformation.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 614-617:

     For that fair femal Troop thou sawst, that seemd / Of Goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay, / Yet empty of all good wherein consists / Womans domestic honour and chief praise;

4. Having nothing to carry, emptyhanded; unburdened.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     I hope our Ladies treaſure and our owne,
     May ſerue for ranſome to our liberties:
     Returne our Mules and emptie Camels backe,
     That we may trauell into Siria, […]

   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 89:

     I hope it remaines not vnkindly with your Lordſhip, that I return'd you an empty Meſſenger.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Exodus 3:21:

     And I will giue this people fauour in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come to passe that when ye goe, ye shall not goe empty:

5. Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language.

   empty words, or threats

   empty offer

   empty promises

   • 1697, Colley Cibber, Woman's Wit‎, act V, page 190:

     […] words are but empty thanks; my future conduct best will speak my gratitude.

6. Unable to satisfy; hollow; vain.

   empty pleasures

   • 1713, Alexander Pope, “Windsor-Forest. ”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: W Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, , published 1717, →OCLC, lines 429-430:

     Ev'n I more sweetly pass my careless days, / Pleas'd in the silent shade with empty praise;

7. Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial.

   empty dreams

8. Destitute of, or lacking, sense, knowledge, or courtesy.

   empty brains

   an empty coxcomb

   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 203, column 2:

     Art thou thus bolden'd man by thy diſtres? / Or elſe a rude deſpiſer of good manners, / That in ciuility thou ſeem'ſt ſo emptie?

9. (of some female animals, especially cows and sheep) Not pregnant; not producing offspring when expected to do so during the breeding season.

   Empty cow rates have increased in recent years.

10. (obsolete, of a plant or tree) Producing nothing; unfruitful.

    an empty vine

    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Genesis 41:27:

      […] and the seuen emptie eares blasted with the East wind […]

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

empty (third-person singular simple present empties, present participle emptying, simple past and past participle emptied)

1. (transitive, ergative) To make empty; to void; to remove the contents of.

   to empty a well or a cistern

   The cinema emptied quickly after the end of the film.

   The suspected thief was requested to empty her pockets.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Ecclesiastes 11:3:

     If the clouds be full of raine, they emptie themselues vpon the earth […]

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto VIII:

     He saddens, all the magic light
     ⁠Dies off at once from bower and hall,
     ⁠And all the place is dark, and all
     The chambers emptied of delight: […]

2. (intransitive) Of a river, duct, etc: to drain or flow toward an ultimate destination.

   Salmon River empties on the W shore about 2 miles below Bear River.

   • 1899 [2nd century], Horace White, transl., Appian:

     Of these the Rhine empties into the Northern ocean and the Danube into the Euxine.

Antonyms

• fill

Derived terms

• empty the clip
• empty the tank

Translations

Noun

empty (plural empties)

1. (chiefly in the plural) A container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty.

   Put the empties out to be recycled.

   • 2010, Don Thompson, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark, Aurum Press Limited, →ISBN:

     In 1960 Willem de Kooning said of [Leo] Castelli, ‘That son of a bitch, you could give him two beer cans and he could sell them.’ [Jasper] Johns laughed and created a sculpture of two Ballantine Ale empties. Castelli immediately sold the work to collectors Robert and Ethel Scull.

   • 2019 October, Steve Stubbs, photo caption, “'60' on the stone”, in Modern Railways, page 20:

     A number of locomotives have been drafted into the area to cover the traction shortfall, including two Class 60s: here No 60039 accelerates away from Eastleigh on the Chandlers Ford branch with the lunchtime Fareham to Whatley quarry empties [empty wagons] on 20 August 2019.

Derived terms

• run on empty

Translations

See also

• dead soldier

References

Further reading

• “empty”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “empty”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.