Definition of LITTER

litter

Meanings

Plural: litters

Noun

  • the offspring at one birth of a multiparous mammal
  • rubbish carelessly dropped or left about (especially in public places)
  • conveyance consisting of a chair or bed carried on two poles by bearers
  • material used to provide a bed for animals
  • Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.
  • A bed, especially a pile of straw with blankets &c. used as a bed.
  • A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs.
  • Synonym of stretcher, such a vehicle used for transporting the sick and injured, inclusive of designs carried in the hand.
  • A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs.
  • The general category of all such similar vehicles, inclusive of sedan chairs, hammock litters, and the like.
  • A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs.
  • An act of giving birth to a number of live young at the same time.
  • Synonym of straw, grass, &c. more generally, particularly in plaster, thatch, and mulch.
  • The whole group of live young born at the same time, typically in reference to mammals or (figurative, derogatory) unpleasant people or objects.
  • Waste or debris, originally any mess but now particularly trash left or thrown on the ground.
  • Animal bedding together with its dung.
  • A bed, a substrate formed from loose materials.
  • The layer of fallen leaves and other loose organic material on the ground in a forest.
  • Fuller's earth, clay pellets, wood chips, or other similar loose absorbent materials used for the waste of pet animals.

Verb

  • strew
    • "Cigar butts littered the ground"
  • make a place messy by strewing garbage around
  • give birth to a litter of animals
  • To drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it (as discarding in public areas rather than trash receptacles).
  • To scatter carelessly about.
  • To strew (a place) with scattered articles.
  • To give birth to, in the manner of animals.
  • To produce a litter of young.
  • To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.
  • To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.

Adj

  • comparative form of lit: more lit

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English litere, lytere, &c., from Anglo-Norman litere, litiere, &c., from Old French litiere (“bedding; bed of loose straw; litter”), from Late Latin lectuāria (“bedding; blankets”), from Latin lectus (“bed; couch”) + -āria (“forming related nouns”), from Proto-Italic *lektos (“[thing] lain upon”), from *leɣō (“to lie down”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-. Cognate with French lit and litière.

Synonyms

&c. more generally, and mulch, bedding, bedding material, dooly, grass, inclusive of designs carried in the hand, lectica, nalki, palanquin, particularly in plaster, straw, stretcher, such a vehicle used for transporting the sick and injured, thatch, trash

Scrabble Score: 6

litter is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
litter is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
litter is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 7

litter is a valid Words With Friends word