Litter

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪtÉ™(r)

Origin

From French litière, from lit ("bed"), from Latin lectus; confer Ancient Greek λέκτρον. Had the sense ‘bed’ in very early English, but then came to mean ‘portable couch’, ‘bedding’, ‘strewn rushes (for animals)’, ...

Noun

1. (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.
• ShakespeareThere is a litter ready; lay him in 't.
2. (countable) The offspring of a mammal born in one birth.
• D. EstrangeA wolf came to a sow, and very kindly offered to take care of her litter.
3. (uncountable) Material used as bedding for animals.
4. (uncountable) Collectively, items discarded on the ground.
• Jonathan SwiftStrephon ...
  Stole in, and took a strict survey
  Of all the litter as it lay.
5. (uncountable) Absorbent material used in an animal's litter tray
6. (uncountable) Layer of fallen leaves and similar organic matter in a forest floor.
7. A covering of straw for plants.
• EvelynTake off the litter from your kernel beds.

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

Derived terms

• litter bin
• litter bug
• litter frog

Full definition of litter

Verb

1. (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.
2. (transitive) To strew with scattered articles.
• Jonathan Swiftthe room with volumes littered round
3. (transitive) To give birth to, used of animals.
• Sir Thomas BrowneWe might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us.
• ShakespeareThe son that she did litter here,
  A freckled whelp hagborn.
4. (intransitive) To produce a litter of young.
• MacaulayA desert ... where the she-wolf still littered.
5. (transitive) To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.
• Bishop HackeTell them how they litter their jades.
• DrydenFor his ease, well littered was the floor.
6. (intransitive) To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.
• HabingtonThe inn where he and his horse littered.

Derived terms

• litterer

Anagrams

• tilter