garbage

[gahr-bij] /ˈgɑr bɪdʒ/

noun

discarded animal and vegetable matter, as from a kitchen; refuse.

any matter that is no longer wanted or needed; trash.

anything that is contemptibly worthless, inferior, or vile:

There's nothing but garbage on TV tonight.

worthless talk; lies; foolishness.

Slang. any unnecessary item added to something else, as for appearance only; garnish:

I'll have an Old Fashioned, but without the garbage.

useless artificial satellites or parts of rockets floating in space, as satellites that are no longer transmitting information or rocket boosters jettisoned in flight.

Computers. meaningless or unwanted data:

That program was not properly debugged and produced nothing but garbage.

Origin

1400-50; late Middle English: discarded parts of butchered fowls; compared with garbelage the removal of waste from spices (< Anglo-French, Old French; see garble, -age) or Old French garbage tax on sheaves of grain, though shift of sense, and form in first case, is unclear

Synonyms

2. litter, refuse, junk, rubbish.

Examples from the web for garbage

Even in the neighborhood where people pick up litter every day, they still have to pay someone to haul off the garbage.
Shortly after that, tear it up and through it in the garbage.
garbage in, garbage out: dustmen make the best forecasts.
Last year, they also went to art exhibits in both cities, where live maps revealed the many paths garbage takes.
During one of my visits there was a great and stinky garbage strike.
Civic leaders need to wake up to how the city's future economic well-being is challenged by our garbage crisis.
They are garbage as far as teaching anything or having any academic standards, and never want to fail anyone.
No doubt, some people who now dutifully sort their garbage would give up.
Recycling as much of your household garbage as possible can significantly reduce your contribution to landfills.
Images of the world's garbage and pollution problems.

British Dictionary definitions for garbage

garbage

/ˈɡɑːbɪdʒ/

noun

worthless, useless, or unwanted matter

Also called rubbish. discarded or waste matter; refuse

(computing) invalid data

(informal) nonsense

Word Origin

C15: probably from Anglo-French garbelage removal of discarded matter, of uncertain origin; compare Old Italian garbuglio confusion

Word Origin and History for garbage

early 15c., "giblets of a fowl, waste parts of an animal," later confused with garble in its sense of "siftings, refuse." Perhaps some senses derive from Old French garbe "a bundle of sheaves, entrails," from Proto-Germanic *garba- (cf. Dutch garf, German garbe "sheaf"), from PIE *ghrebh- "a handful, a grasp." Sense of "refuse, filth" is first attested 1580s; used figuratively for "worthless stuff" from 1590s. Garbology "study of waste as a social science" is from 1976.

Slang definitions & phrases for garbage

garbage

modifier

: She uses a lot of tricky garbage shots to win games and sets/ I call it a garbage movie

noun

Food or meals (1940s+ Hoboes & loggers)
Anything inferior and worthless, esp a literary text or other artistic work; crap, junk: You call that piece of garbage a sonnet? (1592+)