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scavenger

noun
/ˈskæv.ən.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/UK

Etymology

Originally from Middle English scavager, from Anglo-Norman scawageour (“one who had to do with scavage, inspector, tax collector”), from Old Northern French *scawage, escauwage (“scavage”), Old French *scavage, escavage, alteration of escauvinghe (compare Medieval Latin scewinga, sceawinga), from Old Dutch scauwōn (“to inspect, to examinate, to look at”). Usually reinterpreted/re-analysed today as scavenge (which was originally a backformation from this word) + -er. Compare Old English sċēawung (“a showing, spectacle, examination, inspection, toll on exposure of goods”) and Dutch schouwing (“inspection”). More at show.

  1. derived from scauwōn — “to inspect, to examinate, to look at”
  2. derived from *scavage✻
  3. derived from *scawage✻
  4. derived from scawageour — “one who had to do with scavage, inspector, tax collector”
  5. inherited from scavager

Definitions

  1. Someone who scavenges, especially one who searches through rubbish for food or useful…

    Someone who scavenges, especially one who searches through rubbish for food or useful things.

    • garbage scavenger
    • A scavenger picked through the rubbish heap.

  2. An animal that feeds on decaying matter such as carrion.

    • Vultures are natural scavengers.

  3. A street sweeper.

  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. A child employed to pick up loose cotton from the floor in a cotton mill.

    2. A substance used to remove impurities from the air or from a solution.

    3. To scavenge.

    4. To clean the rubbish from a street, etc.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for scavenger. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA