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litter. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
litter, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
litter in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
litter you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
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.
Pronunciation
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.
- Synonyms: palanquin, sedan chair, stretcher, cacolet, lectica
c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :There is a litter ready; lay him in 't.
1922, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 219:When they went out, they sat in litters, which were curtained.
1942 March, “Notes and News: Monument to a Stillborn Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 88:"The Chengtu revolutionaries were fantastically colourful in the Szechwanese manner—they costumed themselves as heroes of the stage and their energies were chiefly occupied in tying ropes across the main streets so that when Imperial officials rode by in their litters they would have to get down and crawl under, losing face.
- (collective, countable) The offspring of a mammal born in one birth.
The runt of the litter is a puppy that is the smallest or weakest among the newborn dogs in a litter .
- (uncountable) Material used as bedding for animals.
sleep in the litter
- (uncountable) Collectively, items discarded on the ground.
- Synonyms: waste, rubbish, (US) garbage, (US) trash, junk
Don't drop litter
Put litter in the bin
1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, page 254:The British people seem incapable of avoiding the habit of leaving litter wherever they go, and the railways certainly seem to receive their fair share of it, in carriages and on stations.
- (uncountable) Absorbent material used in an animal's litter tray
the cat's litter
- (uncountable) Layer of fallen leaves and similar organic matter in a forest floor.
- A covering of straw for plants.
1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “. Chapter IV. Of the Elm.”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. , London: Jo Martyn, and Ja Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, , →OCLC, page 19:Let new planted Elms be kept moist by frequent refreſhings upon ſome half-rotten Fern, or Litter laid about the foot of the ſtem; [...]
Derived terms
Translations
animals born in one birth
- Belarusian: вы́вадак (vývadak)
- Breton: torad (br) m
- Bulgarian: коти́ло (bg) n (kotílo)
- Catalan: ventrada (ca) f
- Chamicuro: pujchi
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 窝 (zh) (wō)
- Danish: kuld (da) n
- Dutch: worp (nl) m
- Finnish: poikue (fi), pesue (fi), pentue (fi)
- French: portée (fr) f
- Galician: niñada (gl) f, camada (gl) f, rolada (gl) f
- German: Wurf (de) m
- Hebrew: שגר (he)
- Hungarian: alom (hu)
- Icelandic: samburar m pl, got (is) n, ungar (is) m pl
- Irish: ál (ga) m
- Italian: cucciolata (it) f
- Japanese: 一腹の子 (hito hara no ko)
- Latvian: vaisla f
- Lithuanian: vada (lt) f
- Macedonian: ко́тило n (kótilo)
- Malay: perinduk, seperinduk
- Maori: punipuni
- Norman: câlée f (Jersey), nichie f (Jersey), portée f (Jersey)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: kull (no) n
- Nynorsk: kull n, bøle n
- Polish: miot m
- Portuguese: ninhada (pt) f
- Russian: припло́д (ru) m (priplód), помёт (ru) m (pomjót), вы́водок (ru) m (vývodok)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: ле́гло n
- Roman: léglo (sh) n
- Slovene: leglo n
- Spanish: camada (es) f
- Swedish: kull (sv) c
- Ukrainian: ви́водок m (vývodok)
- Welsh: torllwyth f, torraid m or f
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discarded items
- Belarusian: сме́цце n (smjéccje), смяццё n (smjaccjó), сьмяцьцё n (sʹmjacʹcjó) (Taraškievica)
- Bulgarian: боклу́к (bg) m (boklúk)
- Catalan: escombraries (ca) f pl, deixalles (ca) f pl, brossa (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 垃圾 (zh) (lājī, lèsè)
- Dutch: afval (nl) n, zwerfafval (nl) n, vuil (nl) n, zwerfvuil (nl) n, vuilnis (nl) n
- Finnish: roska (fi), roina (fi)
- French: détritus (fr) m
- Galician: estrumeira f, lixo (gl) m
- German: Abfall (de) m, Unrat (de) m, Müll (de) m, Abfälle (de) pl
- Hungarian: hulladék (hu), szemét (hu)
- Icelandic: rusl (is) n, drasl (is) n
- Ingrian: rikka, roska, moška
- Italian: rifiuti (it) m pl, immondizia (it) f, spazzatura (it) f
- Japanese: ごみ (ja) (gomi)
- Kazakh: қоқыс (qoqys)
- Lithuanian: šiukšlės (lt) f pl, (sometimes) pabiros f pl
- Macedonian: ѓу́бре n (ǵúbre), о́тпадок m (ótpadok)
- Malayalam: ചവറ് (ml) (cavaṟŭ)
- Maori: parahanga
- Polish: śmieci m pl
- Portuguese: lixo (pt) m
- Russian: сор (ru) m (sor), му́сор (ru) m (músor)
- Spanish: detritus (es), basura (es) f
- Swedish: skräp (sv) n, avfall (sv) n, sopor (sv) pl
- Ukrainian: сміття́ n (smittjá), смі́ття n (smíttja)
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layer of dead leaves and other organic matter
Translations to be checked
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.
1726, [Jonathan Swift], Cadenus and Vanessa. A Poem, London: J. Roberts , →OCLC, page 18:Their Clamour, 'lighting from their Chairs, / Grew lowder, all the way up Stairs; / At Entrance louder, where they found, / The Room with Volumes litter'd round; [...]
- (transitive) To give birth to, in the manner of animals.
1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: , 2nd edition, London: A Miller, for Edw Dod and Nath Ekins, , →OCLC:We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us.
1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :The son that she did litter here, / A freckled whelp hagborn.
- (intransitive) To produce a litter of young.
- (transitive) To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.
1693, John Hacket, Scrinia reserata: a Memorial offered to the great Deservings of John Williams:Tell them how they litter their jades.
- (intransitive) To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.
Derived terms
Translations
drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it
Anagrams
Norman
Etymology
From Old French liter, luitier, from Latin luctārī. Compare French lutter.
Verb
litter
- (Jersey) to wrestle
Derived terms