What is "litter"

Litter \Lit"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Littered (l[i^]t"t[~e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Littering.]

1. To supply with litter, as cattle; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.

   Tell them how they litter their jades.
   --Bp. Hackett.

   For his ease, well littered was the floor.
   --Dryden.

2. To put into a confused or disordered condition; to strew with scattered articles; as, to litter a room.

   The room with volumes littered round.
   --Swift.

3. To give birth to; to bear; -- said of brutes, esp. those which produce more than one at a birth, and also of human beings, in abhorrence or contempt.

   We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us.
   --Sir T. Browne.

   The son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp hagborn.
   --Shak.

Litter \Lit"ter\ (l[i^]t"t[~e]r), v. i.

1. To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter. [R.]

   The inn Where he and his horse littered.
   --Habington.

2. To produce a litter.

   A desert . . . where the she-wolf still littered.
   --Macaulay.

Litter \Lit"ter\ (l[i^]t"t[~e]r), n. [F. liti[`e]re, LL. lectaria, fr. L. lectus couch, bed. See Lie to be prostrated, and cf. Coverlet.]

1. A bed or stretcher so arranged that a person, esp. a sick or wounded person, may be easily carried in or upon it.

   There is a litter ready; lay him in 't.
   --Shak.

2. Straw, hay, etc., scattered on a floor, as bedding for animals to rest on; also, a covering of straw for plants.

   To crouch in litter of your stable planks.
   --Shak.

   Take off the litter from your kernel beds.
   --Evelyn.

3. Things lying scattered about in a manner indicating slovenliness; scattered rubbish.

   Strephon, who found the room was void. Stole in, and took a strict survey Of all the litter as it lay.
   --Swift.

4. Disorder or untidiness resulting from scattered rubbish, or from thongs lying about uncared for; as, a room in a state of litter.

5. The young brought forth at one time, by a cat, dog, sow or other multiparous animal, taken collectively. Also Fig.

   A wolf came to a sow, and very kindly offered to take care of her litter.
   --D. Estrange.

   Reflect upon that numerous litter of strange, senseless opinions that crawl about the world.
   --South.

c.1300, "a bed," also "bed-like vehicle carried on men's shoulders" (early 14c.), from Anglo-French litere "portable bed," Old French litiere "litter, stretcher, bier; straw, bedding," from Medieval Latin lectaria "litter" (altered in French by influence of lit "bed"), from Latin lectus "bed, couch," from PIE *legh-to-, from root *legh- "to lie" (see lie (v.2)).\n

\nMeaning extended early 15c. to "straw used for bedding" (early 14c. in Anglo-French) and late 15c. to "offspring of an animal at one birth" (in one bed); sense of "scattered oddments, disorderly debris" is first attested 1730, probably from Middle English verb literen "provide with bedding" (late 14c.), with notion of strewing straw. Litter by 19c. had come to mean both the straw bedding and the animal waste in it after use.

late 14c., "provide with bedding," from litter (n.). Meaning "to strew with objects" is from 1713. Transitive sense of "to scatter in a disorderly way" is from 1731. Related: Littered; littering.

n. 1 (context countable English) A platform mounted on two shafts, or a more elaborate construction, designed to be carried by two (or more) people to transport one (in luxury models sometimes more) third person(s) or (occasionally in the elaborate version) a cargo, such as a religious idol. 2 (context countable English) The offspring of a mammal born in one birth. 3 (context uncountable English) material used as bedding for animals. 4 (context uncountable English) Collectively, items discarded on the ground. 5 (context uncountable English) absorbent material used in an animal's litter tray 6 (context uncountable English) Layer of fallen leaves and similar organic matter in a forest floor. 7 A covering of straw for plants. vb. 1 (context intransitive English) To drop or throw trash without properly dispose of it (as discarding in public areas rather than trash receptacles). 2 (context transitive English) To strew with scattered articles. 3 (context transitive English) To give birth to, used of animals. 4 (context intransitive English) To produce a litter of young. 5 (context transitive English) To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall. 6 (context intransitive English) To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.

1. n. the offspring at one birth of a multiparous mammal

2. rubbish carelessly dropped or left about (especially in public places)

3. conveyance consisting of a chair or bed carried on two poles by bearers

4. material used to provide a bed for animals [syn: bedding material, bedding]

5. v. strew; "Cigar butts littered the ground"

6. make a place messy by strewing garbage around

7. give birth to a litter of animals

Litter consists of waste products that have been disposed improperly, without consent, at an inappropriate location. Litter can also be used as a verb. To litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles on the ground and leave them there indefinitely or for others to dispose of as opposed to disposing of them properly.

Large and hazardous items of rubbish such as tires, electrical appliances, electronics, batteries and large industrial containers are sometimes dumped in isolated locations, such as national forests and other public land.

It is a human impact on the environment and remains a serious environmental issue in many countries. Litter can exist in the environment for long periods of time before degrading and be transported large distances into the world's oceans. Litter can affect quality of life.

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world, with 4.5 trillion discarded annually. Estimates on the required time for cigarette butts to break down vary. They range from five years to 400 years for complete degradation.

Litter is trash in small portions thrown inappropriately in a public place.

Litter may refer to:

• Litter (animal), a group of mammals born of the same pregnancy
• Litter (vehicle), a piece of furniture mounted on a platform and carried by (usually human) muscle power
• Litter (rescue basket), a basket-like stretcher device used to ferry injured people
• The Litter, a 1960s psychedelic rock band
• Plant litter, dead plant material that has fallen to the ground
• Cat litter, loose, absorbent material as part of the indoor feces and urine disposal system for pets
• Bedding (animals), material strewn in an animal's enclosure for it to sleep on and to absorb feces and urine
• Litter, County Cork, Ireland, a civil parish in the barony of Fermoy

A litter is the multiple offspring at one birth of animals from the same mother and usually from one set of parents. The word is most often used for the offspring of mammals, but can be used for any mammal that gives birth to multiple young. Biology In comparison, a group of eggs and the offspring that hatch from them are frequently called a clutch, while young birds are often called a brood. A litter is defined as anywhere between three and eight offspring.

Animals from the same litter are referred to as litter-mates.

Animals frequently display grouping behavior in herds, swarms, flocks, or colonies, and these multiple births derive similar advantages. A litter offers some protection from predation, not particularly to the individual young but to the parents' investment in breeding. With multiple young, predators could eat several and others could still survive to reach maturity, but with only one offspring, its loss could mean a wasted breeding season. The other significant advantage is the chance for the healthiest young animals to be favored from a group. Rather than it being a conscious decision on the part of the parents, the fittest and strongest baby competes most successfully for food and space, leaving the weakest young, or runts, to die through lack of care.

In the wild, only a small percentage, if any, of the litter may survive to maturity, whereas for domesticated animals and those in captivity with human care the whole litter almost always survives. Kittens and puppies are in this group. Carnivores, rodents, and pigs usually have litters, while primates and larger herbivores usually have singletons.

Category:Zoology Category:Reproduction

The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of persons. Examples of litter vehicles include palki or पालकी ( Bangladesh, Ghana and India), lectica (ancient Rome), kiệu [轎] ( Vietnam), sedan chair ( Britain), litera ( Spain), palanquin ( France, India), jiao ( China), liteira ( Portugal), wo (วอ, Chinese style known as kiao เกี้ยว) ( Thailand), gama ( Korea), koshi, ren and kago ( Japan), tahtırevan ( Turkey) and sankayan ( Philippines)

Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more carriers, some being enclosed for protection from the elements. Larger litters, for example in ancient India, Queens would travel in quite spacious palanquin with facility to sleep if travelling long journey and with availability of eatables and other necessities. Those of the Chinese emperors, may resemble small rooms upon a platform borne upon the shoulders of a dozen or more people. To most efficiently carry a litter, porters will attempt to transfer the load to their shoulders, either by placing the carrying poles upon their shoulders, or the use of a yoke to transfer the load from the carrying poles to the shoulder.

A litter is a stretcher or basket designed to be used where there are obstacles to movement or other hazards: for example, in confined spaces, on slopes, in wooded terrain. Typically it is shaped to accommodate an adult in a face up position and it is used in search and rescue operations. The person is strapped into the basket, making safe evacuation possible. The person generally is further protected by a cervical collar and sometimes a long spine board, so as to immobilize the person and prevent further injury.

A litter essentially is a stretcher with sides (or just a raised edge) and a removable head/torso cover. They are most notably remembered from Korea and Vietnam images of United States Air Force Pararescue airmen or more recent Coast Guard video clips of helicopters rescuing injured people from isolated areas. Some will also recall the images from the TV shows Emergency! & M*A*S*H of fixed stretchers on either side of medical evacuation helicopters.

One widely used style of litter is the Stokes basket.