Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Refuse; garbage.
  • noun Worthless material.
  • noun Foolish discourse; nonsense.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Waste, broken, or worn-out material; useless fragments or remains collectively, especially of stone; refuse in general.
  • noun Any useless or worthless stuff; that which serves no good purpose, or is fit only to be thrown away; trash; trumpery; litter: used of both material and immaterial things.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Waste or rejected matter; anything worthless; valueless stuff; trash; especially, fragments of building materials or fallen buildings; ruins; débris.
  • noun See Gin block, under Gin.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to rubbish; of the quality of rubbish; trashy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Australia, New Zealand, UK, colloquial Exceedingly bad; awful; terrible; crappy.
  • interjection Australia, New Zealand, UK, colloquial Expresses that something is exceedingly bad, terrible or awful.
  • interjection Expresses that what was recently said is untruth or nonsense.
  • noun Australia, New Zealand, UK Garbage, junk, refuse, waste.
  • noun Nonsense.
  • verb To denounce, to criticise, to denigrate, to disparage.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun worthless material that is to be disposed of
  • verb attack strongly
  • noun nonsensical talk or writing

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English robishe.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Anglo-Norman rubouses, of Unknown origin; presumably ultimately from Proto-Germanic *raub- (“to break”) (from whence rob, via meaning “plunder, destroy”). Related to rubble. In verb sense “to criticize”, attested 1953 in Australian and New Zealand slang.

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Examples

  • I wouldn't care so much except that in the eyes of many this rubbish is the supposed figurehead of all forward-thinking science fiction, and that is patently false.

    Is he dead Jim? 2004

  • And that which you call rubbish seems to have caught the ear of all Europe.

    A Son of the Immortals Louis Tracy 1895

  • Yes, I did take some what you call rubbish, and did discover Maister Mishdigoat's own monumentsh --- It's like dat he meant I should be his heirs --- so it would not be civility in me not to come mineself for mine inheritance. ''

    The Antiquary 1845

  • I have bought what happened to come in my way at show or auction; I have retained what came in as part of the _undescribed_ portion of miscellaneous auction lots; I have received a few from friends who found them among what they called their rubbish; and I have preserved books sent to me for review.

    A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I (of II) Augustus De Morgan 1838

  • Yes, I did take some what you call rubbish, and did discover Maister Mishdigoat's own monumentsh --

    The Antiquary — Complete Walter Scott 1801

  • Yes, I did take some what you call rubbish, and did discover Maister Mishdigoat's own monumentsh --

    The Antiquary — Volume 02 Walter Scott 1801

  • Yes, I did take some what you call rubbish, and did discover

    The Antiquary 1584

  • The Mail reports that: Millions of voters are to be deprived of their say over how their rubbish is collected.

    Democracy Labour style Not a sheep 2009

  • Robo calls of rubbish from a bitter old robber baron.

    McCain uses the phone to target colleagues 2009

  • Arguing that Stephenie Meyer and Laurel K Hamilton are rubbish is like kicing puppies.

    MIND MELD: Books We Love That Everyone Else Hates (and Vice Versa) 2010

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