lit·ter 
(lĭtər)
(lĭtər)n.
1.
a. Carelessly discarded refuse, such as wastepaper: the litter in the streets after a parade.
b. A disorderly accumulation of objects; a pile. "An iron washstand [stood] in the corner amidst a litter of soap and soiled towels" (Molly Gloss).
2. The group of offspring produced at one birth by a mammal.
3.
a. Material, such as straw, used as bedding for animals.
b. An absorbent material for covering the floor of an animal's cage or litterbox.
4. An enclosed or curtained couch mounted on shafts and used to carry a single passenger.
5. A flat supporting framework, such as a piece of canvas stretched between parallel shafts, for carrying a disabled or dead person; a stretcher.
6. Fallen leaves and other decaying organic matter that make up the top layer of a forest floor.
v. lit·tered, lit·ter·ing, lit·ters
v.tr.
1. To give birth to (a litter).
2. To make untidy by discarding rubbish carelessly: Someone had littered the beach with food wrappers.
3. To scatter about: littered towels all over the locker room.
4. To be scattered about (an area): "A lot of torn envelopes and open letters littered his bed" (Joseph Conrad).
5. 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.
6. Archaic To supply (animals) with litter for bedding or floor covering.
v.intr.
1. To give birth to a litter.
2. To scatter litter.
[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman litere, from Medieval Latin lectāria (influenced by Old French lit, bed), from Latin lectus, bed; see legh- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
litter·er n.
litterkittens