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▪ I. litter, n.|ˈlɪtə(r)|
Forms: 4–7 liter(e, 4 litir, littar, 5 leter(e, -yr, lyttar, -ere, -ier, -yer, lyter(e, -ier, -our, 5–7 lytter, -tre, 6 litto(u)r, (litre), (6–7 licter, 7 letter, lictier, -ure, litour, littier, littre), 5– litter.
[ad. AF. litere, OF. litiere, (F. litière) = Pr. leitiera, Sp. litera, It. lettiera:—med.L. lectāria, f. L. lect-us (F. lit) bed.]
†1.
a. A bed. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 13817 Quen he had made me hale and fere, ‘Rise vp’, he said, ‘wit þi litere’. a1400–50Alexander 4910 All lemed of his letere þe loge as of heuen. 1440J. Shirley Dethe K. James (1818) 17 The traitours sought the Kyng..yn the withdrawyng chaumburs, yn the litters, undir the presses. c1460Towneley Myst. xiv. 590 Lo, here a lytter redy cled. 1481Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 61 Tho laye they doun on a lytier made of strawe, the foxe hys wyf and hys chyldren wente alle to slepe.
b. In technical use: A ‘bed’ or substratum of various materials.
1848Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. I. 35 Having first made a litter of shingles, planks or billets, with a layer of charcoal powder several inches in thickness.
2. a. A vehicle in use down to recent times, containing a couch shut in by curtains, and carried on men's shoulders or by beasts of burden. b. A framework supporting a bed or couch for the transport of the sick and wounded.
c1330Arth. & Merl. 8541 (Kölbing) Sche akeuered, par ma fay, & was yleyd in liter, Al mast liche an hors bere. 1375Barbour Bruce ix. 106 In littar thai [him] lay, And till the slevach held thair vay. 1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xx, In a lytter made tho full royall..To cary hym softe and easyly. c1450Merlin xviii. 301 Than thei ordeyned hir a litier vpon two palfrayes. 1470–85Malory Arthur xix. vii, He ordeyned lyttyers for the wounded knyghtes. 1502Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 28 Item a covering for a litter of blewe cloth of golde. 1557N. Grimalde in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 123 In littour layd, they lead him vnkouth wayes. 1606Holland Sueton. 51 A flash of lightning glaunced upon his licter, and struck his servant stone dead. 1634Milton Comus 554 The drowsie frighted steeds That draw the litter of close-curtain'd sleep. 1663Wood Life 4 July, The scutcheons on the litter hung on still. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. Pref. 50 To keep himself close shut up in his litter. 1808Pike Sources Mississ. i. 31 Found five litters in which sick or wounded men had been carried. 1839Keightley Hist. Eng. I. 429 She was conveyed..in a litter, over which four knights held a canopy of cloth of gold. 1894A. Robertson Nuggets, etc. 153 He soon made a comfortable litter in which to carry Elsie home.
3. Straw, rushes, or the like, serving as bedding.
†a. For human beings. to make litter of (one's life): to sacrifice lavishly (= F. faire litière de). Obs.
c1440Promp. Parv. 307/2 Lytere of a bed, stratus, stratorium. c1450Bk. Curtasye 435 in Babees Bk., Gromes palettis shyn fyle and make litere. a1483Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 41 The groome porter berith wood, strawe, rushes, for the King's chambre, making the King's litters of his bed. 1652Howell Giraffi's Rev. Naples ii. 119 Whereupon the said Duke offer'd to make litter of his life for the service of his Catholick Majesty the King. 1774J. Collyer Hist. Eng. II. 126 John Baldwin held the manor of Oterarsee..by the service of finding litter for the king's bed, viz. in summer grass or herbs, and in winter straw.
b. For animals. In mod. use also, the straw and dung together.
[1314–15Rolls of Parlt. I. 302/2, xxiii quarters de aveyn & de litter.] c1430Lydg. Hors, Shepe, & G. (Roxb.) 10 As pelows ben to chambres agreable So is harde strawe lytter for the stable. c1440Promp. Parv. 307/2 Lytere, or strowynge of horse, and other beestys, stramentum. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 12 A little straw or litter bad inough for a dog to lie in. 1662Gerbier Princ. 35 The space which the Horse doth possess when in the night time he lyeth stretcht on his Litter. 1693Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. I. 54 To place daily under those Animals..a sufficient quantity of fresh New Straw, well spread, which is call'd making of Litter. 1731Swift Bro. Protestants Wks. 1755 IV. i. 181 The gen'rous wheat forgot its pride, And sail'd with litter side by side. 1809Scott Prose Wks. IV. Biographies ii. (1870) 124 There was no wood to burn and no litter or forage to be had for his horses. 1845Florist's Jrnl. 127 Take some long litter from the dung heap. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 320 The litter of a farmyard gathered under the windows of his bed⁓chamber.
c. Hence applied to straw or similar materials used for other purposes, e.g. † as a component of plaster, † for thatch, or for the protection of plants.
1453Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 160 Et de 2d. solut. pro liter pro dobura ibidem. 1486Nottingham Rec. III. 255 For litter for dawbyng of þe same bothes. 1659Torriano, Stípia,..licture, or thatch for cottages. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. Mar. (1679) 12 Take off the Littier from your Kernel⁓beds. 1706London & Wise Retir'd Gard'ner I. iii. xiii. 304 Tulips..are protected..by Coverings of Straw, or long Litter. 1744Pickering in Phil. Trans. XLIII. 100 Over the Bed, thus prepared, must constantly be kept a Covering of long new Litter..to preserve the Plant from the Frost. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 195 In frosty weather, protect the rows by fern leaves, long litter, or branches of evergreens. 1861Delamer Fl. Garden 22 Agapanthus..may be permitted to remain throughout the winter in the open ground, under a covering of litter or leaves.
4. Odds and ends, fragments and leavings lying about, rubbish; a state of confusion or untidiness; a disorderly accumulation of things lying about.
1730Swift Lady's Dressing-r. 8 Strephon..took a strict survey Of all the litter as it lay. 1742Fielding J. Andrews iv. ix, She was ashamed to be seen in such a pickle,..her house was in such a litter. 1796C. Marshall Garden. xx. 397 Drying flowers, all litter, and everything unsightly, admonish the gardener to trim his plants. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 232 They [silkworms] must be well cleansed from the litter. 1860Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. ix. ix. 293 He [Turner]..enjoyed and looked for litter... His pictures are often full of it. 1868J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 347 An old pamphlet among the litter of the abbot's study. 1894Hall Caine Manxman iii. xvii. 182 The kitchen was covered with the litter of dressmakers preparing for the wedding.
5. a. The whole number of young brought forth at a birth.
1486Bk. St. Albans F vj, A Litter of welpis. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 27 The litter is lyke to the syre and the damme. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 14, I doe heere walke before thee, like a Sow, that hath o'rewhelm'd all her Litter, but one. 1601Holland Pliny I. 220 The best of the whole litter is that whelpe that is last ere it begin to see. 1604Middleton Witch i. ii, Seven of their young pigs..Of the last litter. 1698Tyson in Phil. Trans. XX. 123 Possibly this Subject never had a Litter. 1731Gentl. Mag. I. 352 A Litter of young Lions was whelp'd at the Tower. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. xiv. (ed. 2) 276 In the sow, the bitch, the rabbit,..which have numerous litters, the paps are numerous. 1820Byron Mar. Fal. iii. ii, The hunter may reserve some single cub From out the tiger's litter. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1873) 6 Strongly-marked differences occasionally appear in the young of the same litter.
transf. and fig.1565Harding Confut. Jewels' Apol. iv. xx. 219 Verely a man might thinke this booke was set forth by some ennemye of our newe english clergy,..had not them selues..acknowledged it for a whelpe of their one littour. a1639W. Whately Prototypes i. xix. (1640) 223 That abhominable litter and broode of sinnes which have their originall in mans heart. 1662South Serm. 9 Nov. (1663) 35 Let him reflect upon that numerous litter of strange, sense-lesse absurd Opinions, that crawle about the world. 1664Power Exp. Philos. Pref. 6 They are as inapprehensive, and of the same litter with the former. 1688Vox Cleri Pro Rege Pref. A ij, In the time when Hawkers were loaded with whole Litters of Pamphlets. a1704T. Brown in R. L'Estrange Colloq. Erasm. (1711) 358 A servant maid and a litter of children. 1796Burke Regic. Peace iii. Wks. VIII. 282 To bring into an happy birth her abundant litter of constitutions. 1860Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. viii, When a man had married into a family where there was a whole litter of women, he might have plenty to put up with if he choose.
†b. An act of bringing forth young: usually in phr. at a or one litter. Said of animals only.
c1440Promp. Parv. 307/2 Lytere or forthe brynggynge of beestys, fetus, fetura. 1693Dryden Juvenal vi. (1697) 129 The thirty Pigs at one large Litter farrow'd. 1794S. Williams Vermont 91 The female produces from three to six young ones at a litter.
6. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 2) litter-bearer, litter-bier, litter-car, litter-gelding, litter-man, litter-window; also litter-wise adv.; (sense 3) litter-cutting; (sense 4) litter-bag, litter-basket, litter-bin, litter-box, litter-bug (bug n.2 3 a), litter-carrier, litter-cart, litter-lout; (sense 5) litter-mate, litter-sister.
1968Punch 19 June 892/2 Drop it sadly in your heavy white kraft paper car *litterbag.
1958J. Cannan And be a Villain vii. 160 Oh, the mess they leave on our little common..in spite of the *litter baskets. 1972J. Brown Chancer xiv. 191 There's a row of litter baskets each side of the gates.
1552Elyot Dict., Lecticariola, she that attendeth on a *licter bearer. 1870Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 14 He shut his eyes, and now no more could hear His litter-bearers' feet.
1859Tennyson Enid 1414 Yet raised and laid him on a *litter-bier.
1947Archit. Rev. CII. 198 (caption) On the right a typical *litter-bin. 1972Guardian 28 Jan. 5/6 Clerical staff..have been..sweeping up, and emptying litter bins.
1953News Chron. 2 June 4/4 What a mess there will be on Coronation Day unless people use the *litter-boxes.
1947N.Y. Herald-Tribune 16 Feb. 2/7 (heading) 47,000 subway ‘*litterbugs’ pay $107,000 in fines in 1946 drive. 1959Times 23 July 7/7, I rate such persons in the same category as litter bugs. 1971Guardian 8 Dec. 24/8 He picks up any litter he can find..and he is apt to give litter-bugs a severe dressing-down.
1812Sir R. Wilson Priv. Diary I. 140 Two of my dragoons..got into the *litter-cars of the country.
1915J. London Let. 26 Jan. (1966) 445 He has no *litter-carriers to carry manure.
1967*Litter-cart [see cloth-capped adj.].
1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 396 Two-knife cane-top *litter and chaff-cutting machine.
1836Devon Issue Exch. Jas. I 319 A *litter-gelding for the Queen's litter.
1927Children's Newspaper 25 June 8/2 It is time the *Litter Lout was taken seriously in hand. 1972Guardian 29 Mar. 24/1 The packaging industry had been made a scapegoat for the actions of the litter lout.
1505Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot. III. 97 Item, for ij steikis chamlot to the Quenis tua *littar men..viijli. 1647Haward Crown Rev. 33 Six Littermen: Fee a peice 10l. 1670–98R. Lassels Voy. Italy II. 84 Augustus Cæsar..had escaped a thunderclap which kill'd his litter-man close by him. 1707Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. iii. xi. 440 All belonging to the Stables, as Coachmen, Footmen, Littermen, Postilions, &c.
1921Genetics VI. 122 These are assumed to be *litter-mates for whom all or nearly all tangible environmental factors may be assumed to be in common. 1946Nature 24 Aug. 258/2 A biological test of a solution in arachis oil of the vitamin A thus obtained showed growth-promoting activity in rats (ten litter-mate growth comparisons) of the order indicated by spectroscopic assay. 1972Sci. Amer. Feb. 22/3 Rodents are small, inexpensive and bear large litters, so that littermates with the same genetic background can be assigned to different conditions.
1897Sketch 24 Nov. 192 The puppy..is a *litter-sister to the then ten-weeks-old Wayward. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 1 Mar. 79/2 Mr. G. H. Lewis was not to be denied in the junior class, litter-sisters from him..taking first and second places. 1973Country Life 15 Feb. 385/1 Miss S. G. Weall's fawn dog..collected two firsts and his litter sister..two seconds.
a1661B. Holyday Juvenal 42 Keep His *litter-window shut, and he can sleep.
a1626Bacon New Atl. (1900) 32 He was carried in a rich Chariott, without Wheeles, *Litter-wise.
Add:[3.] d. Decomposing but still recognizable vegetable debris that has fallen from trees and other plants and forms a distinct layer above the soil, esp. on the floor of a forest. See also leaf-litter s.v. *leaf n. 19.
1905Terms Forestry & Logging (U.S. Dept. Agric. Bureau Forestry) 14 Litter, that portion of the forest floor which is not in an advanced state of decomposition. 1938Weaver & Clements Plant Ecol. (ed. 2) viii. 184 Litter comprises the upper portion of the forest floor, slightly or not at all decomposed. The more or less decomposed organic matter just beneath the litter constitutes a layer of duff. 1947R. F. Daubenmire Plants & Environment ii. 25 Just beneath the fresh litter may be found a layer derived from the preceding seasons' litter in which the processes of disintegration seem actively at work. 1974Nature 4 Jan. 3/2 If stress is low, then grasslands become dominated by species of high physical competitive ability, that is species which grow rapidly, are robust and produce dense litter. 1990Forest Resources Arizona (U.S. Dept. Agric. Forest Service) 31 Descriptive locational observations on litter depth..were made at each field location to get an idea of the general condition and stability of the woodland soil resource in the State.
[6.] litter case, a person too ill or badly injured to walk, who is carried on a litter (sense 2 b above): cf. stretcher case s.v. stretcher n. 12.
1944Sun (Baltimore) 9 June 2/3 First to be unloaded on the pier were the *litter cases—seriously injured and dying. 1966Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 24 Dec. (1970) 464 A litter case came down the steps [of the ambulance plane] and a young man raised his head.
▸ = cat litter n. at cat n.1 Additions.
1959New Oxf. (Pa.) Item 15 Jan. 5/5 (advt.) Pet supplies. Cat comfort. The absorbent litter that deodorizes. 1986Guardian (Nexis) 20 Aug. Outside in the tiny corridor are meat tins, litter and basket for her cat. 2001B. Dibra & E. Randolph CatSpeak v. 85 A good, sturdy, lined litter box is just as important as a carrying case; so is its location and the litter in it.
▸ litter box n. a shallow container, typically filled with cat litter, for a domestic cat or other pet to use for urinatation or defecatation when indoors.
1959Herald (Chicago) 30 Apr. (Classified section) 11/3 (advt.) Kittens to be given away. *Litter-box trained. 2002L. Wener Goodnight Steve McQueen lx. 271 He's taken to after-gig slutting like a cat to its very first litter box.
▸ litter tray n. chiefly Brit. = litter box n. at Additions.
1964News (Frederick, Maryland) 22 Apr. 5/6 (advt.) Wanted—Home for 6 week old kitten. House broken. Will give *litter tray and double dish with kitten. 1983Times 21 Feb. 10/5 Someone burst a balloon in my right ear and I nearly jumped into my cats' litter tray. 2000Petcare Jan.–Feb. 4/3 If you notice that your rabbit is going to the toilet in a different place to the litter tray, then simply move the litter tray to your rabbit's chosen spot.
▪ II. litter, v.|ˈlɪtə(r)|
[f. litter n.]
†1. trans. To carry in a litter. Obs. rare—1.
1713? Darrell Gentl. Instructed i. Suppl. iii. 18 These Pagan Ladies were litter'd to Campus Martius, ours are coach'd to Hide-Park.
2. To furnish (a horse, etc.) with litter or straw for his bed; humorously, to provide (a person) with a bed. Also to litter down.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xli. (1495) 802 The colte is not lyttrid wyth strawe nother coryed wyth an horse combe. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 291 It shall be necessary to keep him warm..by littering him up to the belly with fresh straw. a1670Hacket Abp. Williams ii. (1693) 30 Tell them how they litter their Jades and exercise Merchandize in the House of God. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1749) I. 77 Bedding or littering him down with dry clean Straw. 1799Washington Lett. Writ. 1893 XIV. 220 That the stock may be well fed,—littered,—and taken care of according to the directions. 1840Hood Kilmansegg xvi, One is litter'd under a roof Neither wind nor waterproof. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 221 Let him be returned to the stable, littered down. 1861Smiles Engineers II. 112 Thrashing straw to litter the large stock of cattle he had on hand.
absol.1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 41 b, Al kinde of strawe, is good to litter withall.
transf. or fig.1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 129, I love the browning bough to see That litters autumn's dying bed.
3. intr. To lie down on a bed or on litter. rare.
1634Habington Castara ii. 72 The Inne, Where he and his horse litter'd. 1858W. Arnot Laws fr. Heaven II. 279 That poor wretch..has a number of children littering in the hovel which they call their home.
4. trans.
†a. To compound (plaster) with or as with litter (obs.). (Cf. litter n. 3 c.)
b. nonce-use. To plaster.
1559Morwyng Evonym. 65 Some use pure clay littered with ox heare. 1862J. Skelton Nugæ Crit. i. 60 The hovels of the natives were built of turf, littered with mud.
5. To cover with litter. Also with down.
1700Dryden Cock & Fox 226 But, for his ease, well littered was the floor. 1813Sporting Mag. XLII. 55 A loose stable, well littered down with fresh straw. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. iii. (1891) 73 Mind, which grows, not like a vegetable (by having its roots littered with etymological compost), but like a spirit.
6. a. To cover as with litter, to strew with objects scattered in disorder. Also with round, over, up.
1713Swift Cadenus & Vanessa Wks. 1755 III. ii. 15 They found The room with volumes litter'd round. 1770Foote Lame Lover ii. Wks. 1799 II. 68 You know how angry your mother is at their rapping, and littering the house. 1784Cowper Task vi. 280 Littering with unfolded silks The polished counter. 1825Scott Fam. Lett. 17 May, We need not litter up your house..as we can always get into a hotel. 1859Dickens T. Two Cities ii. v, A dingy room lined with books and littered with papers. 1883Froude Short Stud. IV. i. iv. 49 Dinner was over. The floor was littered with rushes and fragments of rolls and broken meat. 1888Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere I. i. iv. 90 The house was littered over with stanzas from the opening canto of a great poem on Columbus. 1890A. Conan Doyle Sign of Four v. 84 The table was littered over with Bunsen burners, test-tubes, and retorts. 1895E. A. Parkes Care Health 35 Serving merely to litter up the surface of the earth.
b. To scatter in disorder about, on, over.
1731Swift Strephon & Chloe 289 View them litter'd on the floor, Or strung on pegs behind the door. 1863F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 31 Firewood and shavings lay littered about the floors. 1883Ld. R. Gower My Remin. I. xviii. 358 A room..which we found full of soldiers asleep littered over the floor.
c. Of things: To lie about in disorder upon.
1856Lever Martins of Cro'M. 14 Pieces of stuccoed tracery..littered the garden and the terrace. 1882B. D. W. Ramsay Recoll. Mil. Serv. II. xiv. 41 Papers, belonging to our various departments under him, littering his table. 1896A. E. Housman Shropsh. Lad xli, Or littering far the fields of May Lady-smocks a-bleaching lay.
7. a. Of animals, occas. transf. in contemptuous use of human beings: To bring forth (young).
1484Caxton Fables of æsop i. ix, Whan the bytche had lyttred her lytyl dogges. 1576Turberv. Venerie 187 She doth lytter them deepe under the ground and so the wolf doth not. 1607Shakes. Cor. iii. i. 239, I would they were Barbarians, as they are, Though in Rome littered. 1610― Temp. i. ii. 282 Saue for the Son, that [s]he did littour heere, A frekelld whelpe, hag-borne. 1622Donne Serm. clvi. VI. 231 Lions are littered perfect but Bear-whelps licked unto their shape. 1867Smiles Huguenots Eng. v. (1880) 84 Wolves littered their young in the deserted farmhouses. 1874Supernat. Relig. I. i. iv. 112 He must take the after-birth of a black cat, which has been littered by a first-born black cat.
fig.a1814Orpheus iii. i. in New Brit. Theatre III. 299 For now I see Calamity is littering plagues to me.
b. absol. or intr.
1484Caxton Fables of æsop i. ix, A bytche which wold lyttre and be delyuerd of her lytyl dogges. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 30 Pliny precisely affirmeth that they litter the thirtyeth day after their conception. 1733Swift On Poetry Wks. 1755 IV. i. 184 Infants dropt, the spurious pledges Of gipsies litt'ring under hedges. 1848Macaulay Hist. xii. Wks. 1866 II. 504 If ever it [Kerry] was mentioned, it was mentioned as a horrible desert..where the she wolf still littered.
▪ III. litter
variant of lighter n. and v.
Perh. mispr. for liters, litered. (The quot. for the vb. is much older than those under lighter v.)
1677A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 152 The goods are littered to and from the Ships. Ibid. 153 The great charge..by carrying..goods by Litters, to and from the Ships. |