GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
last match results
Found 3 definitions
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Litter (lĭtˈtẽr), n. [F. litière, LL. lectaria, fr. L. lectus couch, bed. See Lie to be prostrated, and cf. Coverlet.]
1. A bed or stretcher so arranged that a person, esp. a sick or wounded person, may be easily carried in or upon it.
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There is a litter ready; lay him in 't. Shak.
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2. Straw, hay, etc., scattered on a floor, as bedding for animals to rest on; also, a covering of straw for plants.
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To crouch in litter of your stable planks. Shak.
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Take off the litter from your kernel beds. Evelyn.
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3. Things lying scattered about in a manner indicating slovenliness; scattered rubbish.
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Strephon, who found the room was void.
Stole in, and took a strict survey
Of all the litter as it lay. Swift.
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4. Disorder or untidiness resulting from scattered rubbish, or from thongs lying about uncared for; as, “a room in a state of litter”.
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5. The young brought forth at one time, by a cat, dog, sow or other multiparous animal, taken collectively. Also Fig.
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A wolf came to a sow, and very kindly offered to take care of her litter. D. Estrange.
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Reflect upon that numerous litter of strange, senseless opinions that crawl about the world. South.
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Litter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Littered (lĭtˈtẽrd); p. pr. & vb. n. Littering.]
1. To supply with litter, as cattle; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.
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Tell them how they litter their jades. Bp. Hackett.
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For his ease, well littered was the floor. Dryden.
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2. To put into a confused or disordered condition; to strew with scattered articles; as, “to litter a room”.
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The room with volumes littered round. Swift.
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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.
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We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us. Sir T. Browne.
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The son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp hagborn. Shak.
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Litter (lĭtˈtẽr), v. i.
1. To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter. [R.]
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The inn
Where he and his horse littered. Habington.
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2. To produce a litter.
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A desert . . . where the she-wolf still littered. Macaulay.
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