litter
[lit-er]
- objects strewn or scattered about; scattered rubbish.
- a condition of disorder or untidiness: We were appalled at the litter of the room.
- a number of young brought forth by a multiparous animal at one birth: a litter of six kittens.
- a framework of cloth stretched between two parallel bars, for the transportation of a sick or wounded person; stretcher.
- a vehicle carried by people or animals, consisting of a bed or couch, often covered and curtained, suspended between shafts.
- straw, hay, or the like, used as bedding for animals or as protection for plants.
- the layer of slightly decomposed organic material on the surface of the floor of the forest.
- cat litter.
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- to strew (a place) with scattered objects, rubbish, etc.: to be fined for littering the sidewalk.
- to scatter (objects) in disorder: They littered their toys from one end of the playroom to the other.
- to be strewn about (a place) in disorder (often followed by up): Bits of paper littered the floor.
- to give birth to (young), as a multiparous animal.
- to supply (an animal) with litter for a bed.
- to use (straw, hay, etc.) for litter.
- to cover (a floor or other area) with straw, hay, etc., for litter.
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- to give birth to a litter: The cat had littered in the closet.
- to strew objects about: If you litter, you may be fined.
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- pick of the litter,
- the best or choicest of the animals, especially puppies, in a litter.
- the best of any class, group, or available selection.
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Origin of litter
1250–1300; Middle English litere bed, litter < Anglo-French; Old French litiere < Medieval Latin lectāria, equivalent to Latin lect(us) bed + -āria feminine of -ārius -er2
Synonyms
See more synonyms for litter on Thesaurus.com2. clutter. 9. mess (up). 10. disarrange, derange.
Synonym study
3. See brood.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for litter
Contemporary Examples
We coo over how cute our cat is and minimize the drudgery of cleaning the litter box.
According to Swiss press reports, younger cats in the litter are the most tender and, as such, are the preferred cat cuts.
You'd think that when you get the pick of the litter, the litter would be great.
Remember when Chandler was sexually attracted to sharks and Phoebe raised a litter of baby rats?
Bucking and running into the forest, the deer collapsed dead in a litter of leaves.
Historical Examples
The horses were without stalls or litter, in a dark, ill-paved barn.
There was such a litter as always gathers around a literary man.
Biographical SketchesNathaniel Hawthorne
I flushed to see her regard the litter about me with calm deliberateness.
The Bacillus of BeautyHarriet Stark
The hallways were strewn with straw and the litter of packing.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
The boys took turns with Trapper Jim in carrying the litter.
With Trapper Jim in the North WoodsLawrence J. Leslie
litter
- small refuse or waste materials carelessly dropped, esp in public places
- (as modifier)litter bin
- a disordered or untidy condition or a collection of objects in this condition
- a group of offspring produced at one birth by a mammal such as a sow
- a layer of partly decomposed leaves, twigs, etc, on the ground in a wood or forest
- straw, hay, or similar material used as bedding, protection, etc, by animals or plants
- See cat litter
- a means of conveying people, esp sick or wounded people, consisting of a light bed or seat held between parallel sticks
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- to make (a place) untidy by strewing (refuse)
- to scatter (objects, etc) about or (of objects) to lie around or upon (anything) in an untidy fashion
- (of pigs, cats, etc) to give birth to (offspring)
- (tr) to provide (an animal or plant) with straw or hay for bedding, protection, etc
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Word Origin
C13 (in the sense: bed): via Anglo-French, ultimately from Latin lectus bed
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for litter
n.
c.1300, "a bed," also "bed-like vehicle carried on men's shoulders" (early 14c.), from Anglo-French litere "portable bed," Old French litiere "litter, stretcher, bier; straw, bedding," from Medieval Latin lectaria "litter" (altered in French by influence of lit "bed"), from Latin lectus "bed, couch," from PIE *legh-to-, from root *legh- "to lie" (see lie (v.2)).
Meaning extended early 15c. to "straw used for bedding" (early 14c. in Anglo-French) and late 15c. to "offspring of an animal at one birth" (in one bed); sense of "scattered oddments, disorderly debris" is first attested 1730, probably from Middle English verb literen "provide with bedding" (late 14c.), with notion of strewing straw. Litter by 19c. had come to mean both the straw bedding and the animal waste in it after use.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
litter
(lĭt′ər)- A flat supporting framework, such as a piece of canvas stretched between parallel shafts, for carrying a disabled or dead person; a stretcher.
- The offspring produced at one birth by a multiparous mammal.brood
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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