LITTER • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Litter

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/lˈɪtər/ Listen

noun

Litter n.

1.

A bed or stretcher so arranged that a person, esp. a sick or wounded person, may be easily carried in or upon it. "There is a litter ready; lay him in 't."

2.

Straw, hay, etc., scattered on a floor, as bedding for animals to rest on; also, a covering of straw for plants. "To crouch in litter of your stable planks." "Take off the litter from your kernel beds."

3.

Things lying scattered about in a manner indicating slovenliness; scattered rubbish. "Strephon, who found the room was void. Stole in, and took a strict survey Of all the litter as it lay."

4.

Disorder or untidiness resulting from scattered rubbish, or from thongs lying about uncared for; as, a room in a state of litter.

5.

The young brought forth at one time, by a cat, dog, sow or other multiparous animal, taken collectively. Also Fig. "A wolf came to a sow, and very kindly offered to take care of her litter." "Reflect upon that numerous litter of strange, senseless opinions that crawl about the world."

verb

Litter v. t. (past & past part. littered; pres. part. littering)

1.

To supply with litter, as cattle; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall. "Tell them how they litter their jades." "For his ease, well littered was the floor."

2.

To put into a confused or disordered condition; to strew with scattered articles; as, to litter a room. "The room with volumes littered round."

3.

To give birth to; to bear; said of brutes, esp. those which produce more than one at a birth, and also of human beings, in abhorrence or contempt. "We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us." "The son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp hagborn."

Litter v. i.

1.

To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter. (R.) "The inn Where he and his horse littered."

2.

To produce a litter. "A desert... where the she-wolf still littered."

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Etymology of 'Litter'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Litter" Quotes from Famous Books

... children, all with paper lanterns, shaped and ornamented according to the taste of each child—for each was his own lantern-maker—hoisted on bamboo poles of various lengths and lighted by bits of candles. An effigy of St. John the Baptist followed, borne on a litter, and then came St. Francis, surrounded by crystal lamps. A band followed, and then the standard of the saint, borne by the brothers of the Third Order, praying aloud in a sort of lamentation. San Diego came ...

— An Eagle Flight - A Filipino Novel Adapted from Noli Me Tangere • Jose Rizal

... the red, the cross, the silver, and the black—the latter three being merely colour phases of the former and not separate species, as has frequently been proved, but all four having been found in the same litter—mate in February and March. They pair and remain faithful partners. The father also helps in feeding and caring for the young which are born about fifty days after the mating season. The litter contains ...

— The Drama of the Forests - Romance and Adventure • Arthur Heming

... him down on the litter in the grotto, among the great rocks, under the dark vault of the sky, his face upturned to the stars. He was exhausted, and asked for a drink, and fainted. Then they carried him to the hospital and ...

— Winning a Cause - World War Stories • John Gilbert Thompson and Inez Bigwood

... now. The borers had been dismantled and packed away. At one end of the cliff the mining equipment lay piled in a litter. There was a heap of discarded ore where Grantline had carted and dumped it after his first crude refining process had yielded it as waste. The ore-slag lay like gray powder-flakes strewn down the cliff. Tracks and ore-carts along the ledge stood discarded, mute evidence ...

— Astounding Stories of Super-Science April 1930 • Various

... too ill to proceed, and she lay four days in a mud hovel, among Arabs so rude that they could not be kept from the sick room, where they laid their hands on whatever they fancied. To remain there was out of the question, so Mr. Hinsdale constructed a litter, and at exorbitant prices obtained men from a distant village to carry it. She had to be repeatedly laid upon the ground, while he rode far and near to find four men willing to perform the degrading service of carrying a woman. At length the sun became so ...

— History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume I. • Rufus Anderson

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