Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Street-cleaning; removal of filth.
  • noun The process of cleansing, especially in internal-combustion motors. See scavenge, 2.

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

  • noun (Internal-combustion Engines) Act or process of expelling the exhaust gases from the cylinder by some special means, as, in many four-cycle engines, by utilizing the momentum of the exhaust gases in a long exhaust pipe.

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

  • verb Present participle of scavenge.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Stray cats, which had long survived by scavenging from the many fish-packing businesses in this port city, were the first to show symptoms of poisoning.

    Field and Stream Report: The Truth about Mercury and the Fish You Eat 2004

  • A lot of his work is focused on the idea of scavenging; crows are a common theme.

    KN | Kitsune Noir » Yong Ho Ji 2010

  • In the meantime, most of the Zaballeen are barely scraping by -- having been unable to regain the licenses and prized routes they used to work; many resort to scavenging, which is technically illegal.

    Worldchanging: Bright Green 2009

  • However, that doesn't mean that on my own I might not necessarily devote too many minutes of my life to some kind of scavenging-in-the-wilds - of-the-web Indiana Jones-style adventure.

    Anna Jane Grossman: The Internet Ate My Twenties 2009

  • Every time I dig something out of the pile, or install a new item in a bedroom or closet, I feel like I should get some kind of scavenging or crafting points.

    Archive 2009-07-01 2009

  • Every time I dig something out of the pile, or install a new item in a bedroom or closet, I feel like I should get some kind of scavenging or crafting points.

    Wow, I stink! 2009

  • As someone in the transition from DERP DERP FIXT GARE 4 LYFe to appreciating derailleurs, I think the general trend projecting from my own experience just like a toddler will be towards some kind of scavenging horde hunting down older components like retroghouls riding reconverted 70s Schwinns.

    Rotting from the Bottom Up: Whither the Entry-Level Road Group? BikeSnobNYC 2008

  • The BBC report that Police are now using Merchant Shipping Act of 1854 to stop people "scavenging" on the beach in Devon.

    Archive 2007-01-01 2007

  • The BBC report that Police are now using Merchant Shipping Act of 1854 to stop people "scavenging" on the beach in Devon.

    Thieves 2007

  • Even as the coursing battle heats up, no fewer than three books defending hunting and "scavenging" to use the author's own term in the strongest terms are being published, virtually simultaneously.

    "Foodies" vs AR? 2006

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