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.
verb (used without object)
to give birth to a litter: The cat had littered in the closet.
to strew objects about: If you litter, you may be fined.
Idioms
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.
Origin of litter
1250–1300;Middle Englishlitere bed, litter < Anglo-French;Old Frenchlitiere < Medieval Latinlectāria, equivalent to Latinlect(us) bed + -āria feminine of -ārius-er2
Related formslit·ter·er, nounan·ti·lit·ter, adjectivean·ti·lit·ter·ing, adjectivede-lit·ter, verb (used with object)un·lit·tered, adjectiveCan be confusedletterlighterliterlitter
1540s, of animals, "process of bringing forth young in a single birth," verbal noun from present participle of litter (v.). Meaning "act of furnishing with bedding" is from c.1600. That of "act of dropping litter" is from 1900.
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.
litter
v.
late 14c., "provide with bedding," from litter (n.). Meaning "to strew with objects" is from 1713. Transitive sense of "to scatter in a disorderly way" is from 1731. Related: Littered; littering.
