Definition: litter

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

litter
     n 1: 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]
     v 1: strew; "Cigar butts littered the ground"
     2: make a place messy by strewing garbage around
     3: give birth to a litter of animals

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Litter \Lit"ter\, 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\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Littered; 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. Hacke?.

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

Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

Litter
   (Heb. tsab, as being lightly and gently borne), a sedan or
   palanquin for the conveyance of persons of rank (Isa. 66:20). In
   Num. 7:3, the words "covered wagons" are more literally "carts
   of the litter kind." There they denote large and commodious
   vehicles drawn by oxen, and fitted for transporting the
   furniture of the temple.