litter

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable) Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.
2. (countable, obsolete) A bed, especially a pile of straw with blankets &c. used as a bed.
3. (countable) A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs.
4. (countable) A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs.
5. (broadly, countable) A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs.
6. (countable, obsolete) An act of giving birth to a number of live young at the same time.
7. (obsolete, uncountable) Synonym of straw, grass, &c. more generally, particularly in plaster, thatch, and mulch.
8. (countable) The whole group of live young born at the same time, typically in reference to mammals or (figurative, derogatory) unpleasant people or objects.
9. (uncountable) Waste or debris, originally any mess but now particularly trash left or thrown on the ground.
10. (uncountable) Animal bedding together with its dung.
11. (countable, uncommon) A bed, a substrate formed from loose materials.
12. (uncountable) The layer of fallen leaves and other loose organic material on the ground in a forest.
13. (uncountable) Fuller's earth, clay pellets, wood chips, or other similar loose absorbent materials used for the waste of pet animals.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it (as discarding in public areas rather than trash receptacles).
2. (transitive) To scatter carelessly about.
3. (transitive) To strew (a place) with scattered articles.
4. (transitive) To give birth to, in the manner of animals.
5. (intransitive) To produce a litter of young.
6. (transitive) To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.
7. (intransitive) To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.

Adj

comparative form of lit: more lit

Synonyms

stretcher

rubbish

palanquin

trash

garbage

🗑️

refuse

brood

sedan chair

bedding

waste

garbage

🗑️

bier

junk

clutch

bedding material

clutter

sedan

derange

dust

barrow

doolie

make dirty

breed

whelp

sweepings

clutter up

bring forth

strecher

muck

disarrange

give birth to

palankeen

stuff

mess up

detritus

calve

debris

crap

bull

contaminate

confuse

fill up

fill in

complete

coffin

⚰️

bedevil

fill

fill out

farrow

codswallop

Translations

litière

Sänfte

liteira

lettiga

Streu

portée

rifiuti

camada

Wurf

ninhada

détritus

portantina

maca

figliata

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈlɪtə(ɹ)/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: lytere

Cognate with French: litière

In summary

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.