Word: litter Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-der. Latin lectus Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Latin -āria Late Latin lectuāria Old French litiere Anglo-Norman literebor. Middle English litere English litter Inherited from Middle English litere, borrowed from Anglo-Norman litere, from Old French litiere (“bedding; bed of loose straw; litter”), from Late Latin lectuāria, from Latin lectus + -āria. Pronunciation: /ˈlɪt.ɚ/, [ˈlɪɾ.ɚ] 1. Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. Labels: uncountable Example: Quen he had made me hale and fere Example: As pelows ben to chambres agreable So is harde strawe lytter for the stable. 2. Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. Labels: countable, obsolete Example: Near-synonyms: pallet, straw bed, hay bed (all broadly synonymous) Example: The traitours sought the Kyng... yn the withdrawyng chaumburs, yn the litters, undir the presses. 3. Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. Labels: uncountable Example: Silkworms... must be well cleansed from the litter. Example: The heir of an estate... troubled himself little about decorating his abode, and, if he attempted decoration, seldom produced anything but deformity. The litter of a farmyard gathered under the windows of his bedchamber, and the cabbages and gooseberry bushes grew close to his hall door. 4. A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs. Labels: countable Example: ... In a lytter made tho full royall... Example: Glou. There is a Litter ready, lay him in't, And driue toward Douer friend... 5. A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs. Labels: countable Example: He ordeyned lyttyers for the wounded knyghtes. 6. A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs. Labels: broadly, countable Example: When they went out, they sat in litters, which were curtained. Example: "The Chengtu revolutionaries were fantastically colourful in the Szechwanese manner—they costumed themselves as heroes of the stage and their energies were chiefly occupied in tying ropes across the main streets so that when Imperial officials rode by in their litters they would have to get down and crawl under, losing face. 7. Synonym of straw, grass, etc. more generally, particularly in plaster, thatch, and mulch. Labels: obsolete, uncountable 8. An act of giving birth to a number of live young at the same time. Labels: countable, obsolete Example: Let new planted Elms be kept moist by frequent refreſhings upon ſome half-rotten Fern, or Litter laid about the foot of the ſtem... 9. The whole group of live young born at the same time, typically in reference to mammals or (figurative, derogatory) unpleasant people or objects. Labels: collective, countable Example: A Wolf came to a Sow, and very Kindly Offer'd to take care of her Litter. Example: Strongly-marked differences occasionally appear in the young of the same litter. 10. Waste or debris, originally any mess but now particularly trash left or thrown on the ground. Labels: uncountable Example: Near-synonyms: garbage; see also Thesaurus:trash Example: What are you doing?! There's a litter bin not three feet away. 11. A bed, a substrate formed from loose materials. Labels: countable, uncommon Example: Having first made a litter of shingles, planks or billets, with a layer of charcoal powder several inches in thickness... 12. The layer of fallen leaves and other loose organic material on the ground in a forest. Labels: uncountable Example: Litter, that portion of the forest floor which is not in an advanced state of decomposition. Example: Forest animals use leaf litter in a variety of ways, including as food, shelter, nesting material, bedding, and camouflage. 13. Fuller's earth, clay pellets, wood chips, or other similar loose absorbent materials used for the waste of pet animals. Labels: uncountable Example: Change the cat litter fer chrissakes. This place reeks.