Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A relatively small, open-topped container for discarding trash.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A basket used to receive rejected papers, useless scraps of pa per, and other waste material.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A basket used in offices, libraries, etc., as a receptacle for waste paper.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
receptacle for items that are to bediscarded ; arubbish bin ; agarbage can . Usually small and used indoors.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a container with an open top; for discarded paper and other rubbish
- noun a container with an open top; for discarded paper and other rubbish
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The place stinks of Jamaican marijuana, the cash register area smells of fish, and the wastebasket is full of discarded wrappings from a first aid kit.
Archive 2007-04-01 2007
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Also canny was the "nine-foot rule": if a wastebasket is within nine feet, Buffington says, children will gamely try to use it; farther than that, they won't.
Marshal Plan 2005
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Also canny was the "nine-foot rule": if a wastebasket is within nine feet, Buffington says, children will gamely try to use it; farther than that, they won't.
Marshal Plan 2005
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"Sometimes the wastebasket is exposed," said Joel Joves, a designer with offices in Rancho Santa Fe and Beverly Hills.
Boing Boing: October 6, 2002 - October 12, 2002 Archives 2002
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"Leave plate in wastebasket, Missy," he whispered hoarsely.
Just Patty 1911
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Over in the wastebasket was a brown paper bag, rolled back as a sort of liner.
the dirty duck Grimes, Martha 1984
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Over in the wastebasket was a brown paper bag, rolled back as a sort of liner.
The Dirty Duck Grimes, Martha 1984
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A wastebasket is a necessary piece to have in the bedroom of a baby and it is nice if it is able to match other items in the room.
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Adult attention deficit disorder is quickly becoming the new gay "wastebasket," or faddish diagnosis some doctors and patients are clinging to in an effort to keep up with our 24-7 culture.
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Hyman said in an interview that one way the DSM currently handles this complexity is to have what he called a "wastebasket" diagnosis called "not otherwise specified" (NOS), which captures just about anything that doesn't easily fit the categorical model.
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