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empty

empty

10 3.2
A used bottle or can that people return for money
  • noun
  • /ˈɛmpti/
: envase vacío
  • The recycling center accepts all empties that can be returned for reuse.

So I've been saving these empties up for the last five months.

Examples

  • So I've been saving these empties up for the last five months.

  • An old, almost empty bottle of eye drops.

  • I thought I'll get us an empty glass each and a jug.

  • You will see the cigarette bottles on the wall and all the empty bottles in the hall.

  • He filled the crate with all the empties collected from the picnic.

  • The store offers a discount if you bring back your empties for recycling.

Idioms

glass half-empty
  • Informal
7 6.5

A person who often sees the negative side of things

running on empty
  • Informal
6 7.0

Very tired and having no energy or fuel left

Compounds

13 3.8

A promise someone makes without any plan to keep it

empty suit
  • Offensive
8 8.1

A person in a position of power who has no real skills

5 6.6

A parent whose children have grown up and left home

4 5.1

Talk that has no real meaning and is not useful

4 7.7

A monument honoring a person whose body is elsewhere or cannot be found

1 4.3

Words that sound important but have no real meaning or action

Feeling hungry and weak

empty quiver
  • Literature
9.9

Having nothing needed to deal with a problem

To use all available resources and keep nothing in reserve

How Full

bottleful
1 2.2
bottle of wine
104 1.0
empty
10 3.2

Surface Forms

empty singular
empties plural

Etymology

Empty used as a noun for a bottle comes from the adjective empty meaning 'not filled', so people began to call a used bottle an 'empty' because it was 'without' its drink.