different between litter vs fry

English

Etymology

From French litière, from lit (“bed”), from Latin lectus; confer Ancient Greek ??????? (léktron). Had the sense ‘bed’ in very early English, but then came to mean ‘portable couch’, ‘bedding’, ‘strewn rushes (for animals)’, etc.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l?t?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?l?t?/, [?l???]
• Rhymes: -?t?(r)
• Homophone: lidder (US)

Noun

litter (countable and uncountable, plural litters)

1. (countable) A platform mounted on two shafts, or a more elaborate construction, designed to be carried by two (or more) people to transport one (in luxury models sometimes more) third person(s) or (occasionally in the elaborate version) a cargo, such as a religious idol.
2. (collective, countable) The offspring of a mammal born in one birth.
3. (uncountable) Material used as bedding for animals.

4. (uncountable) Collectively, items discarded on the ground.
   • 1730, Jonathan Swift, s:The Lady's Dressing Room

     Strephon [...] / Stole in, and took a strict survey / Of all the litter as it lay.
5. (uncountable) Absorbent material used in an animal's litter tray

6. (uncountable) Layer of fallen leaves and similar organic matter in a forest floor.
7. A covering of straw for plants.

Synonyms

• (platform designed to carry a person or a load): palanquin, sedan chair, stretcher, cacolet
• (items discarded on the ground): waste, rubbish, garbage (US), trash (US), junk

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

litter (third-person singular simple present litters, present participle littering, simple past and past participle littered)

1. (intransitive) To drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it (as discarding in public areas rather than trash receptacles).

2. (transitive) To scatter carelessly about.
3. (transitive) To strew (a place) with scattered articles.
4. (transitive) To give birth to, used of animals.
5. (intransitive) To produce a litter of young.
6. (transitive) To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.
   • 1693, John Hacket, Scrinia reserata: a Memorial offered to the great Deservings of John Williams

     Tell them how they litter their jades.

   • For his ease, well litter'd was the floor.

7. (intransitive) To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.
   • 1634, William Habington, Castara

     The inn where he and his horse litter'd.

Derived terms

• litterer

Translations

Anagrams

• retilt, tilter, titler

Norman

Etymology

From Old French luitier, loitier, luiter (compare French lutter), from Vulgar Latin luct?re, from Latin luctor, luct?r? (“struggle, wrestle, fight”).

Verb

litter

1. (Jersey) to wrestle

Derived terms

• litteux (“wrestler”)

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: fr?, IPA^(key): /f?a?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Etymology 1

From Middle English frien, borrowed from Old French frire, from Latin fr?g? (“to roast, fry”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?er-. Cognate with Ancient Greek ????? (phrúg?, “I roast, bake”), Sanskrit ??????? (bh?jjati, “to roast, grill, fry”), ???? (bh?g, “the crackling of fire”)

Verb

fry (third-person singular simple present fries, present participle frying, simple past and past participle fried)

1. A method of cooking food.
   1. (transitive) To cook (something) in hot fat.

   2. (intransitive) To cook in hot fat.

2. To be affected by extreme heat or current.
   1. (intransitive, colloquial) To suffer because of too much heat.

   2. (chiefly US, intransitive, slang) To be executed by the electric chair.

   3. (transitive, informal) To destroy (something, usually electronic) with excessive heat, voltage, or current.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:cook

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

fry (plural fries)

1. (usually in the plural, fries, chiefly Canada and US) A fried strip of potato.

   Synonyms: chip, french fry

2. (Ireland, Britain) A meal of fried sausages, bacon, eggs, etc.

   Synonym: fry-up

3. (colloquial, archaic) A state of excitement.

Derived terms

Related terms

• french fry
• fries

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English fry (“seed, offspring”), from Old Norse frjó (“seed, semen”), from Proto-Germanic *fraiw? (“seed, semen, offspring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)per-, *(s)prei- (“to strew, sow”). Cognate with Icelandic frjó (“pollen, seed”), Icelandic fræ (“seed”), Swedish frö (“seed, embryo, grain, germ”), Danish and Norwegian frø (“seed”), Gothic ???????????????????? (fraiw, “seed”).

Noun

fry (uncountable)

1. (now chiefly Britain dialectal) Offspring; progeny; children; brood.
3. Young fish; fishlings.
4. (archaic) A swarm, especially of something small.

   a fry of children

5. (Britain dialectal) The spawn of frogs.

Derived terms

• small fry

Translations

Etymology 3

Dialectal, of obscure origin.

Noun

fry (plural fries)

1. A kind of sieve.
2. A drain.

Westrobothnian

Etymology

From Old Norse frýja; cognate with Norwegian fry.

Verb

fry (preterite frydd)

1. (transitive) To taunt, challenge one to a fight, wrestling, a bet, etc.
2. (with infinitive) To dare, have the courage.

3. (imperative) As a word of challenge.