garbage
English edit
Alternative forms edit
- garbidge (obsolete or eye dialect)
Etymology edit
From late Middle English garbage (“the offal of a fowl, giblets, kitchen waste”, originally “refuse, what is purged away”), from Anglo-Norman, from Old French garber (“to refine, make neat or clean”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *garwijan (“to make ready”).
Akin to Old High German garawan (“to prepare, make ready”), Old English ġearwian (“to make ready, adorn”). More at garb, yare, gear
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɡɑːbɪd͡ʒ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɡɑɹbɪd͡ʒ/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: gar‧bage
Noun edit
garbage (uncountable) (chiefly US, Canada, Australia)
- Food waste material of any kind.
- Useless or disposable material; waste material of any kind.
- The garbage truck collects all residential municipal waste.
- A place or receptacle for waste material.
- He threw the newspaper into the garbage.
- Nonsense; gibberish.
- This machine translation is garbage
- Something or someone worthless.
- 1966, Owen Chadwick, The Victorian Church, volume 1, page 103:
- The dissenting Christian Advocate asked (5 January 1835) how a cabinet composed of the very garbage of Toryism could be expected to share the spirit of Peel’s manifesto.
- (obsolete) The bowels of an animal; refuse parts of flesh; offal.
- (sports, slang, Canada, US, attributive) An easy shot.
- 1962, Coach & Athlete, page 18:
- Yet, even without the three second rule, where your big man could camp underneath and take those delightful “garbage” shots, there was little or no pivot offense, no cutting off the bucket.
- 1981, Update 1981: The Great Contemporary Issues, New York Times Company, page 78:
- […] the aging pro, in a much-heralded "boys against the girls" tennis match, annihilated Margaret Court with an array of "garbage shots and cotton balls."
Synonyms edit
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
- carbage
- garbage bag
- garbage bandit
- garbage bin
- garbage can
- garbage chute
- garbage collect
- garbage collected
- garbage collection
- garbage-collector
- garbage collector
- garbage day
- garbage disposal
- garbage disposal unit
- garbage dump
- garbage fire
- garbage fly
- garbage gleaning
- garbage heap of history
- garbage in, garbage out
- garbage lady
- garbage man
- garbage mitt
- garbage pail
- garbage panda
- garbage patch
- garbage picking
- garbage plate
- garbager
- garbage scow
- garbage time
- garbage truck
- garbage woman
- garbo
- garbologist
- piece of garbage
- treat like garbage
Translations edit
waste material
|
nonsense
|
someone or something worthless
|
Verb edit
garbage (third-person singular simple present garbages, present participle garbaging, simple past and past participle garbaged)
- (transitive, chiefly US, Canada, obsolete) to eviscerate
- 1674, John Josselyn, Two Voyages to New England, Made During the Years 1638-63 (quoted in William Butts Mershon, The Passenger Pigeon, 1907, The Outing Publishing Company):
- I have bought at Boston a dozen Pidgeons ready pulled and garbidged for three pence.
- Synonyms: disembowel, eviscerate, gut
- 1674, John Josselyn, Two Voyages to New England, Made During the Years 1638-63 (quoted in William Butts Mershon, The Passenger Pigeon, 1907, The Outing Publishing Company):
Adjective edit
garbage (not comparable)
- (informal) bad, crap, shitty
- 2010, Nicholas Rombes, A Cultural Dictionary of Punk: 1974-1982:
- half that shit you morons listen to with pride is totally garbage
- 2011, Ezekiel Dayo Adetunji, Power in the Spoken Word!, page 110:
- If you have been with a man for more than five years and both of you have not planned to marry one another, the relationship is completely garbage, and you can do but nothing with it more than having a sexual life with one another.
- 2021, Giselle Renarde, Play It On My Radio: A Diary In Music, page 309:
- The last time I had access to a therapist was 20 years ago, and that was a pretty garbage experience.
See also edit
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From a derivative of Old French garber.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
garbage (plural garbagys) (Late Middle English)
Descendants edit
References edit
- “garbāǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.