Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An animal, such as a vulture or housefly, that feeds on dead or decaying matter.
- noun One that scavenges, as a person who searches through refuse for useful items.
- noun Chemistry A substance added to a mixture to remove or inactivate impurities.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An officer whose duty it was to take custom upon the inspection of imported goods, and later also to see that the streets were kept clean. Also
scavager . - noun Hence A person whose employment is to clean the streets, etc., of a city or the like, by scraping or sweeping together and carrying off the filth.
- noun In cotton-spinning, a child employed to collect the loose cotton lying about the floor or machinery.
- noun In entomology, a scavenger-beetle.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A person whose employment is to clean the streets of a city, by scraping or sweeping, and carrying off the filth. The name is also applied to any animal which devours refuse, carrion, or anything injurious to health.
- noun (Zoöl.) any beetle which feeds on decaying substances, as the carrion beetle.
- noun (Zoöl.) any crab which feeds on dead animals, as the spider crab.
- noun an instrument of torture invented by Sir W. Skevington, which so compressed the body as to force the blood to flow from the nostrils, and sometimes from the hands and feet.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete A
street sweeper . - noun Someone who
scavenges , especially one whosearches throughrubbish forfood or useful things. - noun An
animal thatfeeds ondecaying matter such ascarrion . - noun chemistry A
substance used toremove impurities from theair or from asolution .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying organic matter
- noun a chemical agent that is added to a chemical mixture to counteract the effects of impurities
- noun someone who collects things that have been discarded by others
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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So these bones all around here, there's leg bones here, there's leg bones up there, were done by wolves, bears, coyotes, what we call the scavenger community.
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So these bones all around here, there's leg bones here, there's leg bones up there, were done by wolves, bears, coyotes, what we call the scavenger community.
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So these bones all around here, there's leg bones here, there's leg bones up there, were done by wolves, bears, coyotes, what we call the scavenger community.
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So these bones all around here, there's leg bones here, there's leg bones up there, were done by wolves, bears, coyotes, what we call the scavenger community.
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So these bones all around here, there's leg bones here, there's leg bones up there, were done by wolves, bears, coyotes, what we call the scavenger community.
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So these bones all around here, there's leg bones here, there's leg bones up there, were done by wolves, bears, coyotes, what we call the scavenger community.
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DURHAM: But it used to, the old frames had revolving scavenger rolls -- what they call a scavenger roll, most of them called it a lap stick then.
Oral History Interview with Eula and Vernon Durham, 1978 November 29. Interview H-64. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007). By Eula Durham Eula Durham 1978
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But it used to, the old frames had revolving scavenger rolls — what they call a scavenger roll, most of them called it a lap stick then.
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Maddy LeMel: Suspended States | LeMel has been called a "scavenger poet," and is known for mixed-media constructions incorporating found objects that are reclaimed and given second lives in pieces created with wire, screen, thread, paper, metal fragments, and a deft articulation of light and space.
Bill Bush: What is Worth Saving? This Artweek.LA (November 14-20, 2011) Bill Bush 2011
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Maddy LeMel: Suspended States | LeMel has been called a "scavenger poet," and is known for mixed-media constructions incorporating found objects that are reclaimed and given second lives in pieces created with wire, screen, thread, paper, metal fragments, and a deft articulation of light and space.
Bill Bush: What is Worth Saving? This Artweek.LA (November 14-20, 2011) Bill Bush 2011
MaryW commented on the word scavenger
Dan Fagin, Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation (New York: Bantam Books, 2014), p. 85February 7, 2016