<B>litter, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>little bits left about in disorder; things scattered about. <BR> <I>Ex. Children should pick up their own litter. The kitchen was covered with the litter of dressmakers preparing for the wedding (Hall Caine).</I> (SYN) trash, debris. <DD><B> 2. </B>a state of disorder or untidiness. <BR> <I>Ex. She was ashamed to be seen in such a pickle ... her house was in such a litter (Henry Fielding).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the young animals produced by an animal at one time. <BR> <I>Ex. a litter of puppies.</I> <DD><B> 4a. </B>straw or hay used as bedding for animals, or for other purposes, such as the protection of plants. <DD><B> b. </B>the surface layer of decaying leaves and other organic matter on the floor of a forest. <BR> <I>Ex. This is the ladderlike arrangement of litter, understory, and overstory that naturally builds up, with time, in the forest (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>a stretcher for carrying a sick or wounded person. <DD><B> 6. </B>a framework to be carried on men's shoulders or by beasts of burden, with a couch usually enclosed by curtains. <BR> <I>Ex. I have sent a message ... saying that thou wast a little feeble and would need a litter (Rudyard Kipling).</I> (SYN) palanquin. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to scatter (things) about; leave (odds and ends) lying around. <BR> <I>Ex. He littered the Sunday paper all over the floor.</I> (SYN) strew. <DD><B> 2. </B>to make untidy or disordered. <BR> <I>Ex. She littered her room with books and papers.</I> (SYN) disarrange. <DD><B> 3. </B>to give birth to (young animals). <DD><B> 4a. </B>to make a bed for (an animal) with straw or hay. <DD><B> b. </B>to cover with litter. <BR> <I>Ex. The floor of the stable had just been littered with fresh straw.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> (of an animal) to bring forth a litter of young. noun <B>litterer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="litteraehumaniores">
<B>litterae humaniores,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Latin.) the field of humanities. </DL>
<A NAME="litterateur">
<B>litterateur, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a literary person; writer or critic of literature. </DL>
<B>litter bag,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a usually small plastic or paper bag for litter. </DL>
<A NAME="litterbin">
<B>litterbin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a public trash basket, as on a street; litter basket. </DL>
<A NAME="litterbug">
<B>litterbug, </B>noun, verb, <B>-bugged,</B> <B>-bugging.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) <DD><I>noun </I> a person who throws down trash along a highway, sidewalk, in a park, or other public place. <BR> <I>Ex. At Yellowstone, the cost of cleaning up after the litterbugs runs to $400 a day (Newsweek).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to be a litterbug. <BR> <I>Ex. He ... was arrested for litterbugging and fined $50 (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="littermate">
<B>litter mate,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an animal born and raised in the same litter as another or others. </DL>
<A NAME="littery">
<B>littery, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> consisting of litter; covered with litter; untidy. </DL>
<A NAME="little">
<B>little, </B>adjective, <B>less</B> or <B>lesser,</B> <B>least;</B> or <B>littler,</B> <B>littlest;</B> adverb, <B>less,</B> <B>least;</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>not great or big; small. A grain of sand is little. <BR> <I>Ex. She was called tall and gawky by some ... of her own sex, who prefer littler women (Thackeray).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>short; not long in time or distance; brief. <BR> <I>Ex. Wait a little while and I'll go a little way with you.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>not much: <DD><B> a. </B>small in number. <BR> <I>Ex. a little army. In the realm of mere letters, Voltaire is one of the little band of great monarchs (Christopher Morley).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>small in amount. <BR> <I>Ex. a little money. A very sick child has little strength and can eat only a little food.</I> <DD><B> c. </B>small in degree. <BR> <I>Ex. little hope. He has but little ability.</I> <DD><B> d. </B>small in importance or interest; trifling; trivial. <BR> <I>Ex. Every little discontent appears to him to portend a revolution (Macaulay).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>small in mind, feeling, nature, or power; mean; narrow-minded. <BR> <I>Ex. He was so little he would not take time to help a blind man across the street.</I> <DD><I>adv. </I> <B>1. </B>in a small amount or degree; slightly. <BR> <I>Ex. The teacher read from an interesting book that was little known to us. A zeal little tempered by humanity (Macaulay). They live in a little-known town. Little-known metals are now coming into use (Science News Letter).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>not at all. <BR> <I>Ex. A coward is little liked. He little knows what will happen.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a small amount, quantity, or degree. <BR> <I>Ex. Add a little. He had a big box of candy but gave his sister only a little. He knows very little about the subject.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a short time or distance. <BR> <I>Ex. Move a little to the left. After a little you will feel better. For a little follow, and do me service (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a small thing; trifle. <BR> <I>Ex. When a man's being shaved, what a little will make him laugh (Douglas Jerrold).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>in little,</B> </I>on a small scale; in miniature. <BR> <I>Ex. to paint in little. A miniature of loveliness, all grace summ'd up ... in little (Tennyson).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>little by little,</B> </I>by a small amount at a time; slowly; gradually. <BR> <I>Ex. Weak and dead for hunger, I went little by little up the street (David Rowland).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>make little of,</B> </I>to treat as of little importance. <BR> <I>Ex. She made little of her troubles.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>not a little,</B> </I>a great deal; much; extremely; very. <BR> <I>Ex. We are not a little upset by the incident.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>think little of,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to not value much; consider as unimportant or worthless. </I> <I>Ex. the critic thought little of the painting.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to not hesitate about. <BR> <I>Ex. He thought little of commuting to Washington.</I> noun <B>littleness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="littleauk">
<B>little auk,</B> <B>=dovekie </B>(def. 1).</DL>
<A NAME="littlebairam">
<B>Little Bairam,</B> <B>=lesser Bairam.</B></DL>
<A NAME="littlebear">
<B>Little Bear,</B> <B>=Ursa Minor.</B></DL>
<A NAME="littlebitty">
<B>little-bitty, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) very small; itsy-bitsy. <BR> <I>Ex. [They] scored twin touchdowns on little-bitty three-yard runs (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="littleblueheron">
<B>little blue heron,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a dark blue, medium-sized heron of the southeastern United States that is snowy white in its immature stage. </DL>
<A NAME="littlebluestem">
<B>little bluestem,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bluestem grass from two to four feet high that grows abundantly throughout the United States, especially in Kansas and Oklahoma. </DL>
<A NAME="littlebrowncrane">
<B>little brown crane,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a crane of North America with brown plumage and a small patch of red skin on its forehead. It breeds in the icy region of the Arctic Circle and spends the winter in the southwestern United States and Mexico. </DL>
<A NAME="littlechiefhare">
<B>little chief hare,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the pika of North America. </DL>
<A NAME="littlechristmas">
<B>Little Christmas,</B> <B>=Epiphany.</B></DL>
<A NAME="littledipper">
<B>Little Dipper,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the group of seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa Minor (the Little Bear) shaped like a dipper with the North Star at the end of the dipper's handle. </DL>
<A NAME="littledog">
<B>Little Dog,</B> <B>=Canis Minor.</B></DL>
<A NAME="littleease">
<B>little-ease, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a narrow place of confinement, such as the stocks or pillory or a very small dungeon. </DL>
<A NAME="littleendian">
<B>Little-endian</B> or <B>little-endian, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a member of the orthodox religious party in Lilliput (in Jonathan Swift's <I>Gulliver's Travels</I>) who maintained, in opposition to the Bigendians, that eggs should be broken at the little end. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a disputer about trifles. </DL>
<A NAME="littleenglander">
<B>Little Englander,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an opponent of the territorial enlargement of the British Empire, especially in the 1800's. </DL>
<A NAME="littleenglandism">
<B>Little Englandism,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the policies or views of Little Englanders. <BR> <I>Ex. To me it is ... a curiously heartless piece of Little Englandism to refuse help to a recently independent Commonwealth partner for whom we were so long responsible (Manchester Guardian Weekly).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="littlefinger">
<B>little finger,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the finger farthest from the thumb; smallest finger. </DL>
<A NAME="littlefox">
<B>Little Fox,</B> <B>=Vulpecula.</B></DL>
<A NAME="littlego">
<B>little go,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British Informal.) the first examination for the degree of B.A. at Cambridge University; Previous Examination. </DL>
<B>little green heron,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a small heron that ranges from tropical America to Canada. </DL>
<A NAME="littlegull">
<B>little gull,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a very small, white and grayish European gull living along the New England coast and around the Great Lakes. </DL>
<A NAME="littlehorse">
<B>Little Horse,</B> <B>=Equuleus.</B></DL>
<A NAME="littlehours">
<B>little hours,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the canonical hours of prime, tierce, sext, and nones, and sometimes vespers and complin in the Roman Catholic Church. </DL>
<A NAME="littleiceage">
<B>Little Ice Age,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a period of neoglaciation that started about 5000 years ago, reaching its peak between the late 1600's and early 1700's. </DL>
<A NAME="littleitaly">
<B>Little Italy, </B>pl. <B>-lys</B> or <B>-lies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) the section of a city where Italians live. </DL>
<A NAME="littleleafdisease">
<B>littleleaf disease,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various diseases of plants in which the leaves become small and yellow, especially a disease of pines caused by a parasitic fungus related to the one that causes late blight. </DL>
<A NAME="littleleague">
<B>Little League,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a group of baseball clubs for children twelve years old and under. <DD><B> 2. </B>one of these clubs. </DL>
<A NAME="littleleaguer">
<B>Little Leaguer,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a member of a Little League club. </DL>
