Meaning of SCAVENGER
| Pronunciation: | | 'skavinjur
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 WordNet Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | |
- [n] any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying organic matter
- [n] someone who collects things that have been discarded by others
- [n] a chemical agent that is added to a chemical mixture to counteract the effects of impurities
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SCAVENGER is a 9 letter word that starts with S. |
| | Synonyms: | | magpie, pack rat |
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| | See Also: | | animal, animate being, beast, brute, chemical agent, creature, fauna, hoarder | |
| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | | \Scav"en*ger\, n. [OE. scavager an officer with
various duties, originally attending to scavage, fr. OE. & E.
scavage. See {Scavage}, {Show}, v.]
A person whose employment is to clean the streets of a city,
by scraping or sweeping, and carrying off the filth. The name
is also applied to any animal which devours refuse, carrion,
or anything injurious to health.
{Scavenger beetle} (Zo["o]l.), any beetle which feeds on
decaying substances, as the carrion beetle.
{Scavenger crab} (Zo["o]l.), any crab which feeds on dead
animals, as the spider crab.
{Scavenger's daughter} [corrupt. of Skevington's daughter],
an instrument of torture invented by Sir W. Skevington,
which so compressed the body as to force the blood to flow
from the nostrils, and sometimes from the hands and feet.
--Am. Cyc.
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| Biology Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | | An animal (such as a vulture or coyote) that eats carcasses abandoned by predators, digs through trash cans for food, etc.; true scavengers seldom kill their own prey (but many animals are not exclusively scavengers). |
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