litter
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.
(UK) IPA(key): /ˈlɪtə(ɹ)/
(US) IPA(key): /ˈlɪtɚ/, [ˈlɪɾɚ]
Homophone: lidder (US)
Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)
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.
Synonyms: palanquin, sedan chair, stretcher, cacolet, lectica
(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.
Synonyms: waste, rubbish, (US) garbage, (US) trash, junk
(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.
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).
(transitive) To scatter carelessly about.
(transitive) To strew (a place) with scattered articles.
(transitive) To give birth to, in the manner 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.
litterer
littering
retilt, tilter, titler
From Old French liter, luitier, from Latin luctārī. Compare French lutter.
litter
(Jersey) to wrestle
litteux (“wrestler”)