scavenger

[ skav-in-jer ]

/ ˈskæv ɪn dʒər /

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Definition of scavenger

noun

an animal or other organism that feeds on dead organic matter.

a person who searches through and collects items from discarded material.

a street cleaner.

Chemistry. a chemical that consumes or renders inactive the impurities in a mixture.

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“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.

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Origin of scavenger

1520–30; earlier scavager<Anglo-French scawageour, equivalent to (e)scawage inspection (escaw(er) to inspect <Middle Dutch schauwen to look at (cognate with show) + -age-age) + -eour-or²

Words nearby scavenger

scaup, scauper, scaur, scavenge, scavenge pump, scavenger, scavenger beetle, scavenger hunt, scavenger's daughter, scavenge stroke, Sc.B.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use scavenger in a sentence

In Virginia Beach, one arts-and-culture hub put on a scavenger hunt to draw people to the shopping corridor.
Small Business Saturday spotlights pandemic-inspired entrepreneurship|Emily Davies|November 28, 2020|Washington Post
The series turns New York City into a holiday scavenger hunt.
One Good Thing: Netflix’s Dash & Lily is a sweet TV rom-com with a Christmas twist|Emily VanDerWerff|November 20, 2020|Vox
Because the scavengers kept on getting arrested, they became known as jail boys.
Crime, Corona, Copper and Trouble in Zambia|Eugene Robinson|October 30, 2020|Ozy
This year, she is turning her party virtual with Zoom bingo, magicians in breakout rooms, scavenger hunts and craft projects that she has mailed out to neighborhood kids in advance.
Parents are going the extra mile to save Halloween for their kids|Emily Davies|October 29, 2020|Washington Post

Ashley Nguyen, who lives in Arlington with her 6- and 9-year-old daughters, is organizing a small scavenger hunt with a handful of neighborhood families.
Parents are going the extra mile to save Halloween for their kids|Emily Davies|October 29, 2020|Washington Post
The eggs are disbursed throughout the five boroughs and a citywide scavenger hunt ensues.
Franck de las Mercedes Lost Everything in a Fire…Except His Faberge Egg|Justin Jones|April 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
For Fashion Week, Band of Outsiders traded the runway for the road with a social-media scavenger hunt around NYC.
Band of Outsiders Stages Scavenger Hunt for Fall 2013 Collection|Misty White Sidell|February 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Life is a scavenger hunt run backward as well as forward, a race to comprehend.
The Last of the Wasps|Tad Friend|September 27, 2009|DAILY BEAST
At that point, Tyson had become a scavenger spewing bile and pus.
Bloody Brilliant|Stanley Crouch|April 24, 2009|DAILY BEAST
They also brought in a few of the rabbit-sized scavenger animals.
Space Prison|Tom Godwin
He carries a scavenger's bag and a common sailor's cap, and screams until the whole world gathers around him.
The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi; Volume the first|Count Carlo Gozzi
No scavenger shark, no carrion crab, ever chambered more grisly secrets in his digestive processes than this big charnel bird.
The Escape of Mr. Trimm|Irvin S. Cobb
The scavenger and the ragpicker, being the lowest grade of blousards, do not always rise to the dignity even of a blouse.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 15, No. 87, March, 1875|Various
This is always the great difficulty skywardness has in dealing with the moral scavenger.
Somehow Good|William de Morgan

British Dictionary definitions for scavenger

scavenger

/ (ˈskævɪndʒə) /

noun

a person who collects things discarded by others

any animal that feeds on decaying organic matter, esp on refuse

a substance added to a chemical reaction or mixture to counteract the effect of impurities

a person employed to clean the streets

Derived forms of scavenger

scavengery, noun

Word Origin for scavenger

C16: from Anglo-Norman scawager, from Old Norman French escauwage examination, from escauwer to scrutinize, of Germanic origin; related to Flemish scauwen

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

Scientific definitions for scavenger

scavenger

[ skăv′ən-jər ]

An animal that feeds on dead organisms, especially a carnivorous animal that eats dead animals rather than or in addition to hunting live prey. Vultures, hyenas, and wolves are scavengers.

scavenger

Definition of scavenger

Origin of scavenger

Words nearby scavenger

Words related to scavenger

How to use scavenger in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for scavenger

Derived forms of scavenger

Word Origin for scavenger

Scientific definitions for scavenger