scavenge
to take or gather (something usable) from discarded material.
to cleanse of filth, as a street.
to expel burnt gases from (the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine).
Metallurgy. to purify (molten metal) by introducing a substance that will combine chemically with impurities.
to act as a scavenger.
(of an engine or cylinder) to become scavenged of burnt gases.
to search, especially for food.
Origin of scavenge
1Other words from scavenge
- un·scav·enged, adjective
Words Nearby scavenge
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use scavenge in a sentence
One Halloween when I was in elementary school, I scavenged through my closet in search of an outfit.
Need a last-minute Halloween costume people will recognize? Look to video games. | Shannon Liao | October 29, 2021 | Washington PostWhat’s more, the presence of preserved Neandertal footprints at the site suggests that the ancient hominids foraged there and may have preyed upon young elephants or scavenged dead elephants or other creatures, Martin says.
Fossil tracks may reveal an ancient elephant nursery | Sid Perkins | September 16, 2021 | Science NewsThe best thing to do when you want new clothing is to scavenge the forgotten pieces from your own closet or shop secondhand.
Bamboo fabric is less sustainable than you think | Sara Kiley Watson | September 7, 2021 | Popular-ScienceAt Ice Lake last summer, people left unburied feces around the lake, lit fires in the fragile alpine environment with wood scavenged from historic mining structures, and trampled vegetation that may take hundreds of years to recover.
They hunted when hunting made sense, scavenged when scavenging made sense, and otherwise explored, investigated, and took risks.
The Mystery of the Falkland Islands' Striated Caracara | Paul Kvinta | April 2, 2021 | Outside Online
And towns on the edge of their range have and will experience more interaction as the bears arrive to scavenge.
How Climate Change Is Causing Chaos in the Animal Kingdom | Nina Strochlic | January 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn middle school, the young boy would scavenge nearby trash yards in the capital of Freetown to find parts for his inventions.
Why the Clintons Love Sierra Leone’s Boy Genius | Nina Strochlic | September 26, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTPeople have to scavenge or make everything, either by themselves or as part of a cooperative community.
Where are the Bicycles in Post-Apocalyptic Fiction? | Megan McArdle | January 28, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTInspired us to scavenge for even more erotic bedtime reading.
50 Ways ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Has Changed the World | Lizzie Crocker | December 20, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTHe will scavenge any book in any language for another puzzle piece.
Umberto Eco’s 'The Prague Cemetery' Brings to Life Ancient Hate | Daniel Levin | November 12, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was not implied that it was part of the duty of the Bembridge green committee to scavenge the seashore.
Fifty Years of Golf | Horace G. HutchinsonNeglect of local authority to scavenge after undertaking to do so, 5s.
Cooley's Practical Receipts, Volume II | Arnold CooleyThe symbiote might produce sugars, scavenge the blood of toxins—there are so many things it could do.
Planet of the Damned | Harry HarrisonThere was a fair chance this early that he could scavenge something edible.
Badge of Infamy | Lester del Rey
British Dictionary definitions for scavenge
/ (ˈskævɪndʒ) /
to search for (anything usable) among discarded material
(tr) to purify (a molten metal) by bubbling a suitable gas through it. The gas may be inert or may react with the impurities
to clean up filth from (streets, etc)
chem to act as a scavenger for (atoms, molecules, ions, radicals, etc)
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
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