Adjacent Words

Litter definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LIT'TER, n. [L. lectus, from the root of lego, Eng. lay.]
1. A vehicle formed with shafts supporting a bed between them, in which a person may be borne by men or by a horse. If by the latter, it is called a horse-litter. A similar vehicle in India is called a palanquin.
2. Straw, hay or other soft substance, used as a bed for horses and for other purposes.
3. A brood of young pigs, kittens, puppies or other quadrupeds. The word is applied only to certain quadrupeds of the smaller kinds.
4. A birth of pigs or other small animals.
5. Waste matters, shreds, fragments and the like, scattered on a floor or other clean place.
LIT'TER, v.t.
1. To bring forth young, as swine and other small quadrupeds. It is sometimes applied to human beings in contempt.
2. To scatter over carelessly with shreds, fragments and the like; as, to litter a room or a carpet.
3. To cover with straw or hay; as, to litter a stable.
4. To supply with litter; as to litter cattle.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the offspring at one birth of a multiparous mammal
2: rubbish carelessly dropped or left about (especially in public places)
3: conveyance consisting of a chair or bed carried on two poles by bearers
4: material used to provide a bed for animals [syn: bedding material, bedding, litter] v
1: strew; "Cigar butts littered the ground"
2: make a place messy by strewing garbage around
3: give birth to a litter of animals

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French litere, from lit bed, from Latin lectus — more at lie Date: 14th century 1. a. a covered and curtained couch provided with shafts and used for carrying a single passenger b. a device (as a stretcher) for carrying a sick or injured person 2. a. (1) material used as bedding for animals (2) material used to absorb the urine and feces of animals b. the uppermost slightly decayed layer of organic matter on the forest floor 3. the offspring at one birth of a multiparous animal <a litter of puppies> 4. a. trash, wastepaper, or garbage lying scattered about <trying to clean up the roadside litter> b. an untidy accumulation of objects <a shabby writing-desk covered with a litter of yellowish dusty documents — Joseph Conrad> • littery adjective II. verb Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. bed 1a 2. to give birth to a litter of (young) 3. a. to strew with scattered articles b. to scatter about in disorder c. to lie about in disorder <their upside-down hats littered the top of the bar — Michael Chabon> d. to mark with objects scattered at random <a book littered with misprints> intransitive verb 1. to give birth to a litter 2. to strew litter

U.S. Military Dictionary

A basket or frame utilized for the transport of injured persons.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a refuse, esp. paper, discarded in an open or public place. b odds and ends lying about. c (attrib.) for disposing of litter (litter-bin). 2 a state of untidiness, disorderly accumulation of papers etc. 3 the young animals brought forth at a birth. 4 a vehicle containing a couch shut in by curtains and carried on men's shoulders or by beasts of burden. 5 a framework with a couch for transporting the sick and wounded. 6 a straw, rushes, etc., as bedding, esp. for animals. b straw and dung in a farmyard. --v.tr. 1 make (a place) untidy with litter. 2 scatter untidily and leave lying about. 3 give birth to (whelps etc.). 4 (often foll. by down) a provide (a horse etc.) with litter as bedding. b spread litter or straw on (a floor) or in (a stable). Phrases and idioms: litter-lout = LITTERBUG. Derivatives: littery adj. (in senses 1, 2 of n.). Etymology: ME f. AF litere, OF litiere f. med.L lectaria f. L lectus bed

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Litter Lit"ter, v. i. 1. To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter. [R.] The inn Where he and his horse littered. --Habington. 2. To produce a litter. A desert . . . where the she-wolf still littered. --Macaulay.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Litter Lit"ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Littered; p. pr. & vb. n. Littering.] 1. To supply with litter, as cattle; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall. Tell them how they litter their jades. --Bp. Hacke?. For his ease, well littered was the floor. --Dryden. 2. To put into a confused or disordered condition; to strew with scattered articles; as, to litter a room. The room with volumes littered round. --Swift. 3. To give birth to; to bear; -- said of brutes, esp. those which produce more than one at a birth, and also of human beings, in abhorrence or contempt. We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us. --Sir T. Browne. The son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp hagborn. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Litter Lit"ter, n. [F. liti[`e]re, LL. lectaria, fr. L. lectus couch, bed. See Lie to be prostrated, and cf. Coverlet.] 1. A bed or stretcher so arranged that a person, esp. a sick or wounded person, may be easily carried in or upon it. There is a litter ready; lay him in 't. --Shak. 2. Straw, hay, etc., scattered on a floor, as bedding for animals to rest on; also, a covering of straw for plants. To crouch in litter of your stable planks. --Shak. Take off the litter from your kernel beds. --Evelyn. 3. Things lying scattered about in a manner indicating slovenliness; scattered rubbish. Strephon, who found the room was void. Stole in, and took a strict survey Of all the litter as it lay. --Swift. 4. Disorder or untidiness resulting from scattered rubbish, or from thongs lying about uncared for; as, a room in a state of litter. 5. The young brought forth at one time, by a sow or other multiparous animal, taken collectively. Also Fig. A wolf came to a sow, and very kindly offered to take care of her litter. --D. Estrange. Reflect upon numerous litter of strange, senseless opinions that crawl about the world. --South.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(litters, littering, littered) 1. Litter is rubbish that is left lying around outside. If you see litter in the corridor, pick it up... On Wednesday we cleared a beach and woodland of litter. = rubbish 2. A litter of things is a quantity of them that are lying around in a disorganized way. He pushed aside the litter of books and papers and laid two places at the table. N-UNCOUNT: usu N of n 3. If a number of things litter a place, they are scattered untidily around it or over it. Glass from broken bottles litters the pavement. VERB: V n • littered The entrance hall is littered with toys and wellington boots... Concrete purpose-built resorts are littered across the mountainsides. ADJ: v-link ADJ prep 4. If something is littered with things, it contains many examples of it. History is littered with men and women spurred into achievement by a father's disregard... Charles' speech is littered with lots of marketing buzzwords like 'package' and 'product'. ADJ: v-link ADJ with n 5. A litter is a group of animals born to the same mother at the same time. ...a litter of pups. N-COUNT 6. Litter is a dry substance that you put in the container where you want your cat to go to the toilet.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Heb. tsab, as being lightly and gently borne), a sedan or palanquin for the conveyance of persons of rank (Isa. 66:20). In Num. 7:3, the words "covered wagons" are more literally "carts of the litter kind." There they denote large and commodious vehicles drawn by oxen, and fitted for transporting the furniture of the temple.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

lit'-er (tsabh): (1) Used upon backs of camels for easy riding, made of a wooden frame with light mattress and pillows, also a covering above, supported by upright pieces, sometimes having also side awnings for protection from the sun's rays. Mule litters were made with pairs of shafts projecting before and behind, between which the animals were yoked (Isa 66:20). Litter-wagons ('eghloth tsabh) are mentioned in Nu 7:3; the horse litter (phorion) is mentioned in 2 Macc 9:8; compare 3:27. (2) miTTah, "palanquin" or "litter of Solomon" (So 3:7; compare So 3:9).

See PALANQUIN.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Vehicle with a bed (borne by hand). 2. Bedding of straw, hay, etc. 3. Shreds, fragments, waste matter, scattered rubbish. 4. Confusion, disorder. 5. Brood. II. v. a. 1. Cover with straw, hay, etc., for bedding. 2. Cover with things negligently scattered, strew, scatter, disorder, derange. 3. Give birth to (said of quadrupeds), bring forth, bear.

Moby Thesaurus

air mattress, arsy-varsiness, be confined, bear, bear a child, bear young, bed, bed down, bedding, bedstead, bier, bolster, brancard, break, bridle, brood, brush, bunk, cacolet, calve, camel litter, cast, clamjamfry, clutch, clutter, collateral, couch, curry, currycomb, cushion, dandy, debris, derange, disarrange, disarray, dishevel, dislocate, disorder, disorganize, dolly, doolie, doss, drench, drop, dust, farrago, farrow, fawn, feed, foal, fodder, fragments, fry, garbage, gentle, get, give birth, gocart, groom, gurney, handbarrow, handle, harness, hash, hatch, have, have a baby, have young, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hitch, hodgepodge, hysteron proteron, innerspring mattress, issue, jampan, jumble, jungle, junk, kelter, kip, kitten, labor, lamb, lie in, lumber, manage, mat, mattress, mess, mess up, milk, misarrange, mishmash, muddle, muss, muss up, nest, odds and ends, offal, offspring, pad, pallet, pillow, pup, raff, refuse, riffraff, rub down, rubbish, rubble, ruffle, rug, rummage, rumple, saddle, scatter, scramble, scrap, sedan, sedan chair, shoddy, sleeping bag, sofa, spat, spawn, springs, stretcher, strew, tame, tend, the hay, the sack, throw, topsy-turviness, topsy-turvydom, tousle, train, trash, travail, truck, tumble, turmoil, underbed, underbedding, unholy mess, waste, water, welter, whelp, yean, yoke, young