litter

== English == === Alternative forms === liter, litere, lytter, lyttre, littor, littour, litre, licter, letter, lictier, licture, litour, littier, littre (obsolete) === Etymology === Inherited from Middle English litere, borrowed from Anglo-Norman litere, from Old French litiere (“bedding; bed of loose straw; litter”), from Late Latin lectuāria, from Latin lectus + -āria. === Pronunciation === (General American) IPA(key): /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ IPA(key): [ˈlɪɾ.ɚ] (Canada, US, flapping) Homophone: lidder === Noun === litter (countable and uncountable, plural litters) (uncountable) Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. [1325] a. 1325, Cursor Mundi (Vespasian MS), lines 13817–8: Quen he had made me hale and fere Rise vp he said wit þi litere. (countable, obsolete) A bed, especially a pile of straw (sometimes also with blankets) used as a bed. Near-synonyms: pallet, straw bed, hay bed (all broadly synonymous) (uncountable) Animal bedding together with its dung. (countable) A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs. [1330s] Hypernyms: conveyance, vehicle, device 1410s, John Lydgate, Troy Book, Canto II: ... In a lytter made tho full royall... To cary hym softe and easyly... (medicine, countable) Synonym of stretcher, such a vehicle used for transporting the sick and injured, inclusive of designs carried in the hand. (countable, loosely) Any of the other similar conveyances, such as sedan chairs, hammock litters, and the like. (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of straw, grass, etc. more generally, particularly in plaster, thatch, and mulch. [1453] (countable, obsolete) An act of giving birth to a number of live young at the same time. [1440] (countable, collective) The whole group of live young born at the same time, typically in reference to mammals or (figurative, derogatory) unpleasant people or objects. [1486] 1859, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species..., p. 10: Strongly-marked differences occasionally appear in the young of the same litter. (uncountable) Waste or debris, originally any mess but now particularly trash left or thrown on the ground. Near-synonyms: garbage; see also Thesaurus:trash 2023, Charles Chao Rong Phua, Policy Strategy and Innovation Primer..., p. 22: In the case of a simple problem such as littering, the success or failure of a solution can immediately be assessed once and for all. A successful solution is one that results in no litter being present. Assuming the solution did not involve summarily executing anyone suspected of being about to drop litter, it is unlikely to have significant second-order effects. (countable, uncommon) A bed, a substrate formed from loose materials. (uncountable) The layer of fallen leaves and other loose organic material on the ground in a forest. [1905] 1905, "Terms Used in Forestry and Logging", Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Forestry, No. 61, p. 14: Litter, that portion of the forest floor which is not in an advanced state of decomposition. (uncountable) Fuller's earth, clay pellets, wood chips, or other similar loose absorbent materials used for the waste of pet animals. [1959] ==== Hyponyms ==== (wheelless human or animal transport): sedan, sedan chair (borne chairs); horse litter, mule litter (animal-borne litters); palanquin, palki, jaun (Indian litters); meeana (palanquin with open sides); hammock litter; mancheel (Indian hammock litter); gestatorial chair (papal sedan chair); andor (litter used for Portuguese Catholic processions); takhtrawan (enclosed Middle Eastern & Indian animal-borne litters or open Persian & Indian human-borne mobile thrones); chowpaul (open Indian litter with arched support pole); nalki (princely Indian litter borne by many men; a groom's litter); dooly (suspended Indian litter or seat); dandy, andor (open suspended Indian sedan chair); tonjon (open elevated Indian sedan chair); kajawah (Persian & Indian camel-borne litters); mihaffa (Middle Eastern, Central Asian, & Indian covered litters); jampan (Malaysian covered litter); cacolet (animal-borne medical litters); lectica (Roman curtained litter); kago (open Japanese sedan chair); norimono (enclosed Japanese palanquin); mikoshi (ceremonial Japanese litter for Shinto idols) ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === 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). (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. ==== Derived terms ==== litterer littering ==== Translations ==== === Adjective === litter comparative form of lit: more lit === References === “litter, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000. === Anagrams === retilt, tilter, titler == Norman == === Etymology === From Old French liter, luitier, from Latin luctārī. Compare French lutter. === Verb === litter (Jersey) to wrestle ==== Derived terms ==== litteux (“wrestler”)