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scavenger

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.03 sec.
scav·en·ger  (skvn-jr)
n.
1. One that scavenges, as a person who searches through refuse for food.
2. An animal, such as a bird or insect, that feeds on dead or decaying matter.
3. Chemistry A substance added to a mixture to remove or inactivate impurities.

[Alteration of Middle English scauager, schavager, official charged with street maintenance, from Anglo-Norman scawager, toll collector, from scawage, a tax on the goods of foreign merchants, from Flemish scauwen, to look at, show.]

scavenger
Noun
1. a person who collects things discarded by others
2. any animal that feeds on discarded or decaying matter [Old French escauwer to scrutinize]

scavenger  (skvn-jr)
An animal that feeds on dead organisms, especially a carnivorous animal that eats dead animals rather than or in addition to hunting live prey. Vultures, hyenas, and wolves are scavengers.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.scavenger - a chemical agent that is added to a chemical mixture to counteract the effects of impurities
chemical agent - an agent that produces chemical reactions
2.scavengerscavenger - someone who collects things that have been discarded by others
hoarder - a person who accumulates things and hides them away for future use
3.scavengerscavenger - any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying organic matter
animal, animate being, beast, creature, fauna, brute - a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
bottom-feeder - a scavenger that feeds low on the food chain
Translations

scavenger [ˈskævɪndʒəʳ] n (person) → mendigo/a que rebusca en la basura;
(ZOOL) (animal) → animal m de carroña: (bird) → ave f de carroña
scavenger [ˈskævəndʒəʳ] néboueur m
scavenger [ˈskævəndʒəʳ] scavenge n (person) → Aasgeier m (inf);
(animal, bird) → Aasfresser m
scavenger [ˈskævəndʒəʳ] nspazzino

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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
There was no drainage to carry off the wine, and not only did it all get taken up, but so much mud got taken up along with it, that there might have been a scavenger in the street, if anybody acquainted with it could have believed in such a miraculous presence.
I am no scavenger of odds and ends," he went on, with infinite contempt in his lower lip, "I am a theatrical reporter; and this evening I shall have to give a little account of the play at the Scala.
The empty street - its other life so marked even by great lamp-lit vacancy - was within call, within touch; he stayed there as to be in it again, high above it though he was still perched; he watched as for some comforting common fact, some vulgar human note, the passage of a scavenger or a thief, some night-bird however base.
 
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