gar·bage

(gär′bĭj)

a. Food wastes, as from a kitchen.

b. Refuse; trash.

2. A place or receptacle where rubbish is discarded: tossed the apple core into the garbage.

a. Worthless or nonsensical matter; rubbish: Their advice turned out to be nothing but garbage.

b. Inferior or offensive literary or artistic material.

[Middle English, offal from fowls.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

garbage

(ˈɡɑːbɪdʒ)

1. worthless, useless, or unwanted matter

2. Also called: rubbish discarded or waste matter; refuse

3. (Computer Science) computing invalid data

4. informal nonsense

[C15: probably from Anglo-French garbelage removal of discarded matter, of uncertain origin; compare Old Italian garbuglio confusion]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

gar•bage

(ˈgɑr bɪdʒ)

n.

1. discarded animal and vegetable matter, as from a kitchen.

2. any matter that is no longer wanted or needed; trash.

3. anything that is contemptibly worthless, inferior, or vile.

4. worthless talk or data.

[1400–50; late Middle English: discarded parts of butchered fowls; compare Middle English garbelage the removal of waste from spices (< Old French)]

Garbage

refuse in general; worthless literary matter.

Examples: the garbage of any circulating library.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	garbage - food that is discarded (as from a kitchen) food waste, refuse, scraps waste, waste material, waste matter, waste product - any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted; "they collect the waste once a week"; "much of the waste material is carried off in the sewers"
	2.	garbage - a worthless message drivel subject matter, content, message, substance - what a communication that is about something is about bunkum, guff, hogwash, buncombe, rot, bunk - unacceptable behavior (especially ludicrously false statements) codswallop, folderol, trumpery, wish-wash, applesauce, tripe, rubbish, trash - nonsensical talk or writing pap, pablum - worthless or oversimplified ideas
	3.	garbage - a receptacle where waste can be discarded; "she tossed the moldy bread into the garbage" receptacle - a container that is used to put or keep things in

garbage

noun

1. junk, rubbish, litter, trash (chiefly U.S.), refuse, waste, sweepings, scraps, debris, muck, filth, swill, slops, offal, detritus, dross, odds and ends, flotsam and jetsam, grot (slang), leavings, dreck (slang, chiefly U.S.), scourings, offscourings rotting piles of garbage

2. nonsense, balls (taboo slang), bull (slang), shit (taboo slang), rot, crap (slang), trash, bullshit (taboo slang), hot air (informal), tosh (informal), pap, cobblers (Brit. taboo slang), bilge (informal), drivel, twaddle, tripe (informal), gibberish, guff (slang), moonshine, claptrap (informal), hogwash, hokum (slang, chiefly U.S. & Canad.), codswallop (Brit. slang), piffle (informal), poppycock (informal), balderdash, bosh (informal), eyewash (informal), kak (S. African slang), stuff and nonsense, bunkum or buncombe (chiefly U.S.) I personally think the story is complete garbage.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

garbage

noun

Something that does not have or make sense:

balderdash, blather, bunkum, claptrap, drivel, idiocy, nonsense, piffle, poppycock, rigmarole, rubbish, tomfoolery, trash, twaddle.

Informal: tommyrot.

Slang: applesauce, baloney, bilge, bull, bunk, crap, hooey, malarkey.

Translations

زُبالَهللزُّبالَهنُفَايَة

odpadkyodpadkový

affaldskrald

Abfall Müll Ramsch

απορρίματα απόρριμμα σκουπίδια

basura desechos

jäätmed

آشخالآشغال

roskat

ordures déchets

otpadsmeće

hulladékhulladék-konyhai hulladékszemét

rusl, sorprusla-, sorp-

immondizia rifiuti

ごみ

쓰레기

šiukšlių

atkritumiatkritumu-

afval huisvuil

avfall søppel søppel-avfalls-skrot

śmieci

lixo

мусор отброс

odpadki

sopor

ขยะ

çöp süprüntü

rác thải

垃圾垃圾的

garbage

[ˈgɑːbɪdʒ] (esp US)

A. N (= refuse) → basura f; (= waste) → desperdicios mpl (fig) (= goods, film etc) → birria f, porquería f; (spoken, written) → bobadas fpl, tonterías fpl, disparates mpl
he talks a lot of garbage → dice muchas bobadas or tonterías
the book is garbage → la novela es una basura or birria or porquería
garbage in, garbage out (Comput) → basura entra, basura sale

B. CPD garbage bag N → bolsa f de la basura
garbage can N → cubo m de la basura
garbage collector N → basurero/a m/f
garbage disposal unit N → triturador m de basura
garbage dump N → vertedero m
garbage man N = garbage collector garbage truck N → camión m de la basura

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

garbage

[ˈgɑː^rbɪdʒ] n

(= rubbish) → ordures fpl, détritus mpl

(fig) → conneries fpl garbage can n (US) → poubelle fgarbage chute n (US) → vide-ordures m invgarbage collector n (US) → éboueur mgarbage disposal n (= machine) → broyeur m d'orduresgarbage disposal unit n (US) → broyeur m d'orduresgarbage man n (US) → éboueur mgarbage shute n (US) → vide-ordures m invgarbage truck n (US) → camion m des éboueurs

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

garbage

n (lit: esp US) → Abfall m, → Müll m; (fig: = useless things) → Schund m, → Mist m (inf); (= nonsense) → Blödsinn m, → Quatsch m (inf); (Comput) → Garbage m; garbage in, garbage out (Comput) → garbage in, garbage out, Müll rein, Müll raus

garbage

garbage can

n (US) → Müll- or Abfalleimer m; (outside) → Mülltonne f

garbage collector

n (US) → Müllarbeiter m; the garbages → die Müllabfuhr

garbage disposal unit

n (esp US) → Müllschlucker m

garbage man

n (US) = garbage collector

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

garbage

[ˈgɑːbɪdʒ] n (esp Am) → immondizie fpl, spazzatura, rifiuti mpl (fig) (film, book) → porcheria, robaccia; (nonsense) → fesserie fpl

garbage

(ˈgaːbidʒ) noun

(especially American) rubbish.

adjective

There is a garbage chute at the end of the corridor.

garbage can

(American) a dustbin.

garbage

→ نُفَايَة odpadky skrald Abfall σκουπίδια basura roskat déchets otpad immondizia ごみ 쓰레기 afval søppel śmieci lixo мусор sopor ขยะ çöp rác thải 垃圾

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"I would sooner my daughters were lying dead at my feet than see them listening to the garbage of that shameless fellow."

View in context

It impelled the visitor to questions and then the residents would explain, quietly, that all this was "made" land, and that it had been "made" by using it as a dumping ground for the city garbage. After a few years the unpleasant effect of this would pass away, it was said; but meantime, in hot weather--and especially when it rained--the flies were apt to be annoying.

View in context

Far more mysterious than the call of sex to sex is the tenderness that we throw into that call; far wider is the gulf between us and the farmyard than between the farm-yard and the garbage that nourishes it.

View in context

The air was perfumed with the stench of rotten leaves and faded fruit; the refuse of the butchers' stalls, and offal and garbage of a hundred kinds.

View in context

He saw the fine red brick houses, mortared in white lines, standing on the edge of the water, and their balconies, open towards the river, decked out with silk tapestry embroidered with gold flowers, the wonderful manufacture of India and China; and near these brilliant stuffs, large lines set to catch the voracious eels, which are attracted towards the houses by the garbage thrown every day from the kitchens into the river.

View in context

The moment the travellers were fairly on the march, and the camp was abandoned, these starving hangers-on would hasten to the deserted fires, to seize upon the half-picked bones, the offal and garbage that lay about; and, having made a hasty meal, with many a snap and snarl and growl, would follow leisurely on the trail of the caravan.

View in context

"If you kill the dog it'll cost you a dollar to the garbage man to get rid of the carcass," the manager took up.

View in context

The Tertiary comprises railway tracks, patent pavements, grass, snakes, mouldy boots, beer bottles, tomato cans, intoxicated citizens, garbage, anarchists, snap-dogs and fools.

View in context

All this he carried into the back yard and dumped in the garbage can.

View in context

Went to Westminster School as a King's Scholar, when I was principally living on garbage, and sleeping in market baskets.

View in context

Crazy wooden galleries common to the backs of half a dozen houses, with holes from which to look upon the slime beneath; windows, broken and patched, with poles thrust out, on which to dry the linen that is never there; rooms so small, so filthy, so confined, that the air would seem too tainted even for the dirt and squalor which they shelter; wooden chambers thrusting themselves out above the mud, and threatening to fall into it--as some have done; dirt-besmeared walls and decaying foundations; every repulsive lineament of poverty, every loathsome indication of filth, rot, and garbage; all these ornament the banks of Folly Ditch.

View in context

They asked him if he were insured; and whence he had stolen his anchor, because, they said, it belonged to the Carrie Pitman; they called his boat a mud-scow, and accused him of dumping garbage to frighten the fish; they offered to tow him and charge it to his wife; and one audacious youth slipped almost under the counter, smacked it with his open palm, and yelled: "Gid up, Buck!"

View in context