Litter
WordNet
noun
(1) Material used to provide a bed for animals
(2) Conveyance consisting of a chair or bed carried on two poles by bearers
(3) The offspring at one birth of a multiparous mammal
(4) Rubbish carelessly dropped or left about (especially in public places)
verb
(5) Give birth to a litter of animals
(6) Make a place messy by strewing garbage around
(7) Strew
"Cigar butts littered the ground"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From litière, from lit, ‘bed’, from lectus; confer Greek λέκτρον. Had the sense ‘bed’ in very early English, but then came to mean ‘portable couch’, ‘bedding’, ‘strewn rushes (for animals)’, ...
Noun
- A platform mounted on two shafts, or a more elaborate construction, designed to be carried by two (or more) people to transport one (in luxury models sometimes more) third person(s) or (occasionally in the elaborate version) a cargo, such as a religious idol.
- The offspring of a mammal born in one birth.
- Material used as bedding for animals.
- Collectively, items discarded on the ground.
- Absorbent material used in an animal's litter tray
- Layer of fallen leaves and similar organic matter in a forest floor.
Synonyms
- (platform designed to carry a person or a load): palanquin, sedan chair, stretcher, cacolet
- (items discarded on the ground): waste, rubbish, garbish (US), trash (US), junk