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Glite Dictionary
🗑️ To drop rubbish 🗑️ Rubbish outdoors 🪨 Animal bedding 🐶 A group of babies 🐶 To give birth 🪑 A carried seat
to litter

to litter

5 7.5
To give birth to a group of baby animals at once
  • verb
  • /ˈlɪtər/
translation icon : parir
  • The rabbit littered her baby bunnies in a cozy burrow hidden from predators.

Examples

  • The dog will litter her puppies in the spring after a successful breeding.

  • After a careful selection, she decided to litter her kittens all at once.

  • To begin with, Thunapa's children litter the landscape, especially taking into account various versions of the story.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Crumbs, dirt, and a bit of grass litter the kitchen floor where a woman is sweeping.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • After a storm, driftwood and other oddments litter the sand.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Burned-out tanks still litter the road on the town's outskirts as well.

    Blog text (19)

  • An antique white-pine china cabinet in the corner had been kicked in, the floor littered with broken dishes and shards of crystal.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Beach - Coronado Naval Base - Day: 150-pound rubber boats ("Zodiacs") litter the beach.

    Fiction book (1997)

Synonyms

to give birth
vsto litter
252 1.4

To have a baby or young animal from your body

produces several young at one time rather than usually one

Idioms

pick of the litter
  • Informal
5 3.7

The best or most wanted one in a group, like the strongest puppy

Phrasal Verbs

to clean litter box
  • US
1.1

Remove waste from a cat's litter tray

Compounds

litter box
  • US
18 1.8

A box with soft material that cats use to pee and poo indoors

kitty litter
  • US
11 2.5

A soft clay material put in a box to soak up a cat's waste

litter problem
2.3

A situation where trash builds up and causes problems

litter-basket
  • UK
1.5

A bin in public places where people put trash

litter-bearer
8.4

A person who carries a stretcher to move injured people

litter basket
  • UK
1.4

A bin in public places for people to put rubbish in

litter lout
  • Offensive
7.7

A person who drops trash in public places

Surface Forms

litter infinitive
littered past
littered past participle
littering present participle
litters third person singular

Etymology

Litter (verb) comes from the same Old French litiere 'bed', since it originally meant to produce young that share a common bed. That's why when an animal litters it gives birth to a group of young at once.