garbage

[gahr-bij]

noun

1. discarded animal and vegetable matter, as from a kitchen; refuse.

2. any matter that is no longer wanted or needed; trash.

3. a bin or other receptacle for discarded matter, especially kitchen waste; garbage can.

   Hey, who threw my leftover pizza in the garbage?

   Synonyms: taradiddle, malarkey, hogwash, claptrap, bunkum, nonsense, waste, trash, rubbish, junk, refuse, litter

4. anything that is contemptibly worthless, inferior, or vile.

   There's nothing but garbage on TV tonight.

5. worthless talk; lies; foolishness.

6. Informal.,  any unnecessary item added to something else, as for appearance only; garnish.

   I'll have an Old Fashioned, but without the garbage.

7. useless artificial satellites or parts of rockets floating in space, as satellites that are no longer transmitting information or rocket boosters jettisoned in flight.

8. Computers.,  meaningless or unwanted data.

   That program was not properly debugged and produced nothing but garbage.

garbage

/ ˈɡɑːbɪdʒ /

noun

1. worthless, useless, or unwanted matter

2. Also called: rubbish. discarded or waste matter; refuse

3. computing invalid data

4. informal,  nonsense

Word History and Origins

Origin of garbage¹

First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English garbage, gabage “discarded parts of butchered fowls; entrails of fowls used for human food”; compare with Middle English garbelage “removal of refuse from spices,” Middle English garbelure “refuse found in spices,” and Old French garbage (also jarbage ) “tax on sheaves of grain,” but the shift of sense here is unclear; further origin uncertain; garble, -age

Word History and Origins

Origin of garbage¹

C15: probably from Anglo-French garbelage removal of discarded matter, of uncertain origin; compare Old Italian garbuglio confusion

Example Sentences

When the gossip became public a year or so later, Noem dismissed it as “total garbage.”

Read more on Salon

Some of the bodies have been found in the corners of tunnels or in garbage bags and have required drilling underground to reach, according to reservists who took part in such operations.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Leo highlighted the "outrageous paradoxes" by which enormous amounts of food go wasted in the world "while multitudes of people scramble to find something in the garbage to put in their mouths".

Read more on Barron's

“There’s no Democratic or Republican way to pick up the garbage,” he says.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Cue the “Simpsons” clip of Bart tossing a cake that reads “At Least You Tried” into the garbage.

Read more on Los Angeles Times