different between strew vs litter

English

Alternative forms

• strow, straw (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English strewen, strawen, streowen, from Old English strewian, str?awian, str?owian (“to strew, scatter”), from Proto-Germanic *strawjan? (“to strew”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, scatter”). Cognate with Scots strow, straw (“to strew”), West Frisian streauwe (“to strew”), Dutch strooien (“to strew, scatter, sprinkle”), German streuen (“to strew, scatter”), Swedish strö (“to strew”), Icelandic strá (“to strew”), Norwegian Nynorsk strå (“to strew”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /st?u?/?
• (US) IPA^(key): /st?u/
• Rhymes: -u?

Verb

strew (third-person singular simple present strews, present participle strewing, simple past strewed, past participle strewn or strewed)

1. (archaic except strewn) To distribute objects or pieces of something over an area, especially in a random manner.

   to strew sand over a floor

   • c. 1595,, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act 5, scene 3

     Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew.

   • And strewed his mangled limbs about the field.

   • 1880, Benjamin Disraeli, Endymion

     On a principal table a desk was open and many papers strewn about.

2. (archaic except strewn) To cover, or lie upon, by having been scattered.

   Leaves strewed the ground.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, Prothalamion

     The snow which does the top of Pindus strew.
3. (transitive, archaic) To spread abroad; to disseminate.

Synonyms

• scatter, sprinkle

Derived terms

• bestrew
• strewable
• strewage
• strewments
• strewnfield

Related terms

• strain
• streusel

Translations

Anagrams

• Trews, trews, werst, wrest

Middle English

Noun

strew

1. Alternative form of straw

Yola

Noun

strew

1. Alternative form of stre

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”)