scavenger
English
Alternative forms
- skavenger (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English scavager, from Anglo-Norman scawageour (“one who had to do with scavage, inspector, tax collector”), from Old Northern French *scawage, escauwage (“scavage”), Old French *scavage, escavage, alteration of escauvinghe (compare Medieval Latin scewinga, sceawinga), from Old Dutch scauwōn (“to inspect, to examinate, to look at”). Compare Dutch schouwing (“inspection”). More at show.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈskæv.ən.dʒə(ɹ)/
Noun
scavenger (plural scavengers)
- Someone who scavenges, especially one who searches through rubbish for food or useful things.
- An animal that feeds on decaying matter such as carrion.
- (Britain, obsolete) A street sweeper.
- (Britain, historical) A child employed to pick up loose cotton from the floor in a cotton mill.
- (chemistry) A substance used to remove impurities from the air or from a solution.
Derived terms
- bioscavenger
- scav
- scavenger beetle
- scavenger crab
- scavenger hunt
- scavengerism
- scavengerous
- scavenger's daughter
Translations
Someone who scavenges, especially one who searches through rubbish for food or useful things
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animal feeding on decaying matter
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street sweeper
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substance to remove impurities
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Verb
scavenger (third-person singular simple present scavengers, present participle scavengering, simple past and past participle scavengered)
- (archaic) To scavenge.
- (archaic) To clean the rubbish from a street, etc.
Further reading
