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Waste vs. Litter

Waste and Litter Definitions

Waste

To use, consume, spend, or expend thoughtlessly or carelessly.

Litter

Carelessly discarded refuse, such as wastepaper
The litter in the streets after a parade.

Waste

To cause to lose energy, strength, or vigor; exhaust, tire, or enfeeble
Disease wasted his body.

Litter

A disorderly accumulation of objects; a pile. “An iron washstand [stood] in the corner amidst a litter of soap and soiled towels” (Molly Gloss).

Waste

To fail to take advantage of or use for profit; lose
Waste an opportunity.

Litter

The group of offspring produced at one birth by a mammal.
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Waste

To destroy completely
The invaders wasted the village.

Litter

Material, such as straw, used as bedding for animals.

Waste

(Slang) To kill; murder.

Litter

An absorbent material for covering the floor of an animal's cage or litterbox.

Waste

To lose energy, strength, weight, or vigor; become weak or enfeebled
Wasting away from an illness.

Litter

An enclosed or curtained couch mounted on shafts and used to carry a single passenger.
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Waste

To pass without being put to use
Time is wasting.

Litter

A flat supporting framework, such as a piece of canvas stretched between parallel shafts, for carrying a disabled or dead person; a stretcher.

Waste

The act or an instance of wasting or the condition of being wasted
A waste of talent.
Gone to waste.

Litter

Fallen leaves and other decaying organic matter that make up the top layer of a forest floor.

Waste

A place, region, or land that is uninhabited or uncultivated; a desert or wilderness.

Litter

To give birth to (a litter).
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Waste

A devastated or destroyed region, town, or building; a ruin.

Litter

To make untidy by discarding rubbish carelessly
Someone had littered the beach with food wrappers.

Waste

An unusable or unwanted substance or material, such as a waste product
Industrial wastes.

Litter

To scatter about
Littered towels all over the locker room.

Waste

Something, such as steam, that escapes without being used.

Litter

To be scattered about (an area)
“A lot of torn envelopes and open letters littered his bed” (Joseph Conrad).

Waste

Garbage; trash.

Litter

To include certain items such as expressions throughout (a speech or piece of writing, for example)
Littered his letters with the names of powerful friends.

Waste

The undigested residue of food eliminated from the body; excrement.

Litter

(Archaic) To supply (animals) with litter for bedding or floor covering.

Waste

Regarded or discarded as worthless or useless
Waste trimmings.

Litter

To give birth to a litter.

Waste

Used as a conveyance or container for refuse
A waste bin.

Litter

To scatter litter.

Waste

Excreted from the body
Waste matter.

Litter

(countable) 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.

Waste

Of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.

Litter

The offspring of a mammal born in one birth.

Waste

Or urine.
The cage was littered with animal waste.

Litter

(uncountable) Material used as bedding for animals.
Sleep in the litter

Waste

A wasteland; an uninhabited desolate region; a wilderness or desert.

Litter

(uncountable) Collectively, items discarded on the ground.
Don't drop litter
Put litter in the bin

Waste

A place that has been laid waste or destroyed.

Litter

(uncountable) Absorbent material used in an animal's litter tray
The cat's litter

Waste

A large tract of uncultivated land.

Litter

(uncountable) Layer of fallen leaves and similar organic matter in a forest floor.

Waste

(historical) The part of the land of a manor (of whatever size) not used for cultivation or grazing, nowadays treated as common land.

Litter

A covering of straw for plants.

Waste

A vast expanse of water.

Litter

(intransitive) To drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it (as discarding in public areas rather than trash receptacles).
By tossing the bottle out the window, he was littering.

Waste

A disused mine or part of one.

Litter

(transitive) To scatter carelessly about.

Waste

The action or progress of wasting; extravagant consumption or ineffectual use.
That was a waste of time!
Her life seemed a waste.

Litter

(transitive) To strew (a place) with scattered articles.

Waste

Large abundance of something, specifically without it being used.

Litter

(transitive) To give birth to, used of animals.

Waste

Gradual loss or decay.

Litter

(intransitive) To produce a litter of young.

Waste

A decaying of the body by disease; atrophy; wasting away.

Litter

(transitive) To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.

Waste

(rare) destruction or devastation caused by war or natural disasters; see "to lay waste".

Litter

(intransitive) To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.

Waste

(legal) A cause of action which may be brought by the owner of a future interest in property against the current owner of that property to prevent the current owner from degrading the value or character of the property, either intentionally or through neglect.

Litter

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.

Waste

(geology) Material derived by mechanical and chemical erosion from the land, carried by streams to the sea.

Litter

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.

Waste

Useless and contemptible.

Litter

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

Waste

Uncultivated, uninhabited.

Litter

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

Waste

Barren; desert.

Litter

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.

Waste

Rejected as being defective; eliminated as being worthless; produced in excess.

Litter

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.

Waste

Superfluous; needless.

Litter

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

Waste

Dismal; gloomy; cheerless.

Litter

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.

Waste

Unfortunate; disappointing. en

Litter

To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.
The innWhere he and his horse littered.

Waste

(transitive) To devastate; to destroy.

Litter

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

Waste

(transitive) To squander (money or resources) uselessly; to spend (time) idly.
We wasted millions of dollars and several years on that project.

Litter

The offspring at one birth of a multiparous mammal

Waste

To kill; to murder.

Litter

Rubbish carelessly dropped or left about (especially in public places)

Waste

(transitive) To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to deteriorate; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.

Litter

Conveyance consisting of a chair or bed carried on two poles by bearers

Waste

(intransitive) To gradually lose weight, weaken, become frail.

Litter

Material used to provide a bed for animals

Waste

(intransitive) To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value etc. gradually.

Litter

Strew;
Cigar butts littered the ground

Waste

(legal) To damage, impair, or injure (an estate, etc.) voluntarily, or by allowing the buildings, fences, etc., to fall into decay.

Litter

Make a place messy by strewing garbage around

Waste

Desolate; devastated; stripped; bare; hence, dreary; dismal; gloomy; cheerless.
The dismal situation waste and wild.
His heart became appalled as he gazed forward into the waste darkness of futurity.

Litter

Give birth to a litter of animals

Waste

Lying unused; unproductive; worthless; valueless; refuse; rejected; as, waste land; waste paper.
But his waste words returned to him in vain.
Not a waste or needless sound,Till we come to holier ground.
Ill day which made this beauty waste.

Waste

Lost for want of occupiers or use; superfluous.
And strangled with her waste fertility.

Waste

To bring to ruin; to devastate; to desolate; to destroy.
Thou barren ground, whom winter's wrath hath wasted,Art made a mirror to behold my plight.
The TiberInsults our walls, and wastes our fruitful grounds.

Waste

To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out.
Until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness.
O, were I ableTo waste it all myself, and leave ye none!
Here condemnedTo waste eternal days in woe and pain.
Wasted by such a course of life, the infirmities of age daily grew on him.

Waste

To spend unnecessarily or carelessly; to employ prodigally; to expend without valuable result; to apply to useless purposes; to lavish vainly; to squander; to cause to be lost; to destroy by scattering or injury.
The younger son gathered all together, and . . . wasted his substance with riotous living.
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Waste

To damage, impair, or injure, as an estate, voluntarily, or by suffering the buildings, fences, etc., to go to decay.

Waste

To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value, or the like, gradually; to be consumed; to dwindle; to grow less; - commonly used with away.
The time wasteth night and day.
The barrel of meal shall not waste.
But man dieth, and wasteth away.

Waste

To procure or sustain a reduction of flesh; - said of a jockey in preparation for a race, etc.

Waste

The act of wasting, or the state of being wasted; a squandering; needless destruction; useless consumption or expenditure; devastation; loss without equivalent gain; gradual loss or decrease, by use, wear, or decay; as, a waste of property, time, labor, words, etc.
For all this waste of wealth loss of blood.
He will never . . . in the way of waste, attempt us again.
Little wastes in great establishments, constantly occurring, may defeat the energies of a mighty capital.

Waste

That which is wasted or desolate; a devastated, uncultivated, or wild country; a deserted region; an unoccupied or unemployed space; a dreary void; a desert; a wilderness.
All the leafy nation sinks at last,And Vulcan rides in triumph o'er the waste.
The gloomy waste of waters which bears his name is his tomb and his monument.

Waste

That which is of no value; worthless remnants; refuse. Specifically: Remnants of cops, or other refuse resulting from the working of cotton, wool, hemp, and the like, used for wiping machinery, absorbing oil in the axle boxes of railway cars, etc.

Waste

Spoil, destruction, or injury, done to houses, woods, fences, lands, etc., by a tenant for life or for years, to the prejudice of the heir, or of him in reversion or remainder.

Waste

Old or abandoned workings, whether left as vacant space or filled with refuse.

Waste

Material derived by mechanical and chemical erosion from the land, carried by streams to the sea.

Waste

Any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted;
They collect the waste once a week
Much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers

Waste

Useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly;
If the effort brings no compensating gain it is a waste
Mindless dissipation of natural resources

Waste

The trait of wasting resources;
A life characterized by thriftlessness and waste
The wastefulness of missed opportunities

Waste

An uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation;
The barrens of central Africa
The trackless wastes of the desert

Waste

(law) reduction in the value of an estate caused by act or neglect

Waste

Spend thoughtlessly; throw away;
He wasted his inheritance on his insincere friends
You squandered the opportunity to get and advanced degree

Waste

Use inefficiently or inappropriately;
Waste heat
Waste a joke on an unappreciative audience

Waste

Get rid of;
We waste the dirty water by channeling it into the sewer

Waste

Run off as waste;
The water wastes back into the ocean

Waste

Get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing;
The mafia liquidated the informer
The double agent was neutralized

Waste

Spend extravagantly;
Waste not, want not

Waste

Lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief;
After her husband died, she just pined away

Waste

Cause to grow thin or weak;
The treatment emaciated him

Waste

Devastate or ravage;
The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion

Waste

Waste away;
Political prisoners are wasting away in many prisons all over the world

Waste

Disposed of as useless;
Waste paper

Waste

Located in a dismal or remote area; desolate;
A desert island
A godforsaken wilderness crossroads
A wild stretch of land
Waste places

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