scavenging

scav·enge

 (skăv′ənj)

v. scav·enged, scav·eng·ing, scav·eng·es

v.tr.

1.

a. To collect (useful items) by searching through refuse: scavenged a chair from the neighbor's trash.

b. To search through (a place or container) for useful items.

2. To feed on (dead or decaying matter). Used especially of animals.

3.

a. To expel (exhaust gases) from a cylinder of an internal-combustion engine.

b. To expel exhaust gases from (such a cylinder).

4.

a. To clean (molten metal) by chemically removing impurities.

b. To remove or inactivate (harmful chemicals or impurities) in a mixture: antioxidants that scavenge free radicals from the body.

v.intr.

1. To search through refuse for useful items.

2. To feed on dead or decaying matter.

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[Back-formation from scavenger.]

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.

scavenging

(ˈskævɪndʒɪŋ)

n

the act of searching for things among discarded material

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

Translations

pulitura [di strade]