waste basket
2
1.3
- noun
- /ˈweɪst ˈbæskɪt/
- US
:
papelera
- She tosses a milk carton into a brimming waste basket, then speaks to Toby, who enters the room.
- a waste basket beside the desk
Examples
-
I reuse the plastic ones for garbage and waste basket liners; I never buy trash bags.
Blog text (27) -
She picks it up and tosses it into the waste basket.
Fiction book (1993) -
I found this in the waste basket.
-
Let me use your waste basket.
-
Perhaps some employee has thrown this one into the waste basket, where it belongs.
-
He tore up some papers and threw them in his waste basket.
-
Morales checked the waste basket and found the cans of Seven-Up.
Fiction book (1999) -
Mostly that means putting things in the dishwasher, not the counter, keeping a waste basket at my elbow and dumping it into the outgoing trash bag as required, hanging towels on the rack to dry, etc.
Blog text (27) -
Crumpling the slip silently, Professor Yokver dumped it into his waste basket and went back to crossing out large sections of Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols.
Fiction book (2002) -
He tore up some papers and threw them in his waste basket.
Synonyms
214
1.0
A container where people put waste to be taken away
119
1.0
A container with a lid for storing or throwing away things
72
1.0
A container for holding rubbish until it is collected
60
1.0
A bin with a lid that holds household waste until someone takes it away
15
1.0
A container with an open top for holding paper and small bits of rubbish
4
1.0
A container for holding rubbish until it is taken away
3
1.6
A bin with an open top for throwing away paper and small rubbish
2
1.1
A large round bin for holding rubbish until someone collects it
A small open container for throwing away paper and other small rubbish
A bin for rubbish kept until it is collected
A bin in public places where people put trash
A bin in public places for people to put rubbish in
A bin in public places where people put rubbish
A joke name for a wastebasket where unwanted papers go
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'waste' (refuse) with 'basket' (a receptacle), i.e., a basket for wastepaper or small refuse. This noun+noun compounding is a common, literal composition pattern across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Waste basket comes from the simple idea of a basket used to hold waste by a desk, and people would drop crumpled paper and small 'trash' into it. That's why it means 'a container for small refuse or wastepaper'.