*litter*

v. i. to make a shrill creaking noise by rubbing together special bodily structures, as of male insects such as crickets or grasshoppers.
Syn. -- stridulate. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. i. To flutter. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To flutter; to move quickly; as, to flitter the cards. [ R. ] Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. G. flitter spangle, tinsel, flittern to make a tremulous motion, to glitter. Cf. Flitter, v. i. ] A rag; a tatter; a small piece or fragment. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Flitter, v.i. + mouse; cf. G. fledermaus, OHG. fledarmūs. Cf. Flickermouse, Flindermouse. ] (Zool.) A bat; -- called also flickermouse, flindermouse, and flintymouse. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. A term applied to the bark obtained from young oak trees. McElrath. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Glittered p. pr. & vb. n. Glittering. ] [ OE. gliteren; akin to Sw. glittra, Icel. glitra, glita, AS. glitenian, OS. glītan, OHG. glīzzan, G. gleissen, Goth. glitmunjan, and also to E. glint, glisten, and prob. glance, gleam. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To sparkle with light; to shine with a brilliant and broken light or showy luster; to gleam; as, a glittering sword. [ 1913 Webster ]

The field yet glitters with the pomp of war. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be showy, specious, or striking, and hence attractive; as, the glittering scenes of a court.

Syn. -- To gleam; to glisten; to shine; to sparkle; to glare. See Gleam, Flash. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A bright, sparkling light; brilliant and showy luster; brilliancy; as, the glitter of arms; the glitter of royal equipage. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Glittering. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a glittering manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who makes excessively fine or needless distinctions in reasoning; one who quibbles. “The caviling hairsplitter.” De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A carriage hung on poles, and borne by and between two horses. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. litière, LL. lectaria, fr. L. lectus couch, bed. See Lie to be prostrated, and cf. Coverlet. ] 1. A bed or stretcher so arranged that a person, esp. a sick or wounded person, may be easily carried in or upon it. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is a litter ready; lay him in 't. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Straw, hay, etc., scattered on a floor, as bedding for animals to rest on; also, a covering of straw for plants. [ 1913 Webster ]

To crouch in litter of your stable planks. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Take off the litter from your kernel beds. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Things lying scattered about in a manner indicating slovenliness; scattered rubbish. [ 1913 Webster ]

Strephon, who found the room was void.
Stole in, and took a strict survey
Of all the litter as it lay. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Disorder or untidiness resulting from scattered rubbish, or from thongs lying about uncared for; as, a room in a state of litter. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The young brought forth at one time, by a cat, dog, sow or other multiparous animal, taken collectively. Also Fig. [ 1913 Webster ]

A wolf came to a sow, and very kindly offered to take care of her litter. D. Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

Reflect upon that numerous litter of strange, senseless opinions that crawl about the world. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Littered p. pr. & vb. n. Littering. ] 1. To supply with litter, as cattle; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tell them how they litter their jades. Bp. Hackett. [ 1913 Webster ]

For his ease, well littered was the floor. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To put into a confused or disordered condition; to strew with scattered articles; as, to litter a room. [ 1913 Webster ]

The room with volumes littered round. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To give birth to; to bear; -- said of brutes, esp. those which produce more than one at a birth, and also of human beings, in abhorrence or contempt. [ 1913 Webster ]

We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

The son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp hagborn. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The inn
Where he and his horse littered. Habington. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To produce a litter. [ 1913 Webster ]

A desert . . . where the she-wolf still littered. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. ] One who occupies himself with literature; a literary man; a literatus. “ Befriended by one kind-hearted littérateur after another.” C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. one who helps carry a stretcher.
Syn. -- stretcher-bearer. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a bin (usually in or outside a public building) into which the public can put rubbish.
Syn. -- litterbasket. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a person who litters public places with refuse.
Syn. -- litterer, litter lout. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. having articles scattered about in a disorderly fashion.
Syn. -- cluttered, messy, mussy, untidy. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a person who litters public places with refuse.
Syn. -- litterbug, litter lout. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One of two or more animals born into the same litter. [ PJC ]

a. Covered or encumbered with litter; consisting of or constituting litter. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Elec.) A device by which a single-phase current is split into two or more currents differing in phase. It is used in starting single-phase induction motors. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. One who, or that which, slits. [ 1913 Webster ]