rubbish

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Refuse, waste, garbage, junk, trash.

   • The rubbish is collected every Thursday in Gloucester, but on Wednesdays in Cheltenham.
   • What traſh is Rome? / What Rubbiſh and what Offall? when it ſerues / For the baſe matter, to illuminate / So vile a thing as Cæsar.
2. 2

   An item, or items, of low quality.

   • Much of what they sell is rubbish.
   • [W]e may add that publications of this nature always contain much rubbiſh to make up the bulk; for to produce a neat collection of true wit, requires talents and judgment that would ſcarcely ſtoop to the taſk.
   • "And ain't you had nothing but that kind of rubbage to eat?" / "No, sah—nuffn' else."
3. 3

   Nonsense.

   • Everything the teacher said during that lesson was rubbish. How can she possibly think that a bass viol and a cello are the same thing?
   • I ſhall […] lay out of my way the whole bede-roll of citations and precedents which they have produced, that heterogeneous heap of rubbiſh, which is only calculated to confound your Lordſhips, and miſlead the argument.
4. ›+ 6 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Debris or ruins of buildings

      Debris or ruins of buildings; rubble.

      • E'er since poor Cheapside cross in rubbage lay, […]
      • At length th' Almighty caſt a pitying eye, / And mercy ſoftly touch'd his melting breaſt: / He ſaw the town's one half in rubbiſh lie, / And eager flames give on to ſtorm the reſt.
   2. 5

      Exceedingly bad

      Exceedingly bad; awful.

      • This has been a rubbish day, and it’s about to get worse: my mother-in-law is coming to stay.
      • Disk interfaces have been around since the year dot, as people soon realised that the microdrive was unreliable, unstable and generally rubbish for the storage of anything, useless except as a rather small beermat.
      • A-level students will study Russell Brand's views on drugs and Caitlin Moran's Twitter feed alongside more conventional literature in a new A-level that was immediately denounced as "rubbish" by sources at the Department for Education.
   3. 6

      Used to express that something is exceedingly bad, awful, or terrible.

      • - The one day I actually practice my violin, the teacher cancels the lesson. - Aw, rubbish! Though at least this means you have time to play football.
   4. 7

      Used to express that what was recently said is nonsense or untrue

      Used to express that what was recently said is nonsense or untrue; balderdash!, nonsense!

      • Rubbish! I did nothing of the sort!
      • Rubbish, sir, rubbish! Pestilent and pernicious rubbish! An honest man must consider what he owes to his name and his rank. That is the first consideration.
   5. 8

      To criticize, to denigrate, to denounce, to disparage.

      • We're messing around at work, the three of us, getting ready to go home and rubbishing each other's five best side one track ones of all time [...]
      • Oh, there is fuel enough for the memoirs, even if Marion's eyes glaze over, periodically, during tea or one of Corrie's rather awful lunches [...]. The names flow forth, and are rubbished or extolled, [...]
   6. 9

      To litter.

The neighborhood

• neighborrubble