litter
n. C / Un. trash or small pieces of paper that people leave on the ground in public places. It can also mean a group of baby animals born to the same mother at the same time.
n. waste material, such as paper or bottles, that has been disposed of improperly in a public area. Also refers to a group of offspring produced at one birth by a multiparous mammal.
Please pick up your litter before you leave the park.
The city council increased the fine for dropping litter to encourage residents to keep the streets clean.
Volunteers spent the weekend clearing plastic litter from the shoreline to prevent it from being swept into the ocean during the high tide.
From Middle English litere, lytere, etc., from Anglo-Norman litere, litiere, etc., from Old French litiere (“bedding; bed of loose straw; litter”), from Late Latin lectuāria (“bedding; blankets”), from Latin lectus (“bed; couch”) + -āria (“forming related nouns”), from Proto-Italic lektos (“[thing] lain upon”), from leɣō (“to lie down”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-. Cognate with French lit and litière.
Uncountable when referring to trash or waste; countable when referring to a group of baby animals.
There were many litters on the street.There was a lot of litter on the street.When referring to trash, the word is uncountable and should not be used in the plural form.