Lit"ter (l&ibreve;t"t&etilde;r), 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.
There is a litter ready; lay him in
't.
Shak.
2. Straw, hay, etc., scattered on a floor, as
bedding for animals to rest on; also, a covering of straw for
plants.
To crouch in litter of your stable
planks.
Shak.
Take off the litter from your kernel
beds.
Evelyn.
3. Things lying scattered about in a manner
indicating slovenliness; scattered rubbish.
Strephon, who found the room was void.
Stole in, and took a strict survey
Of all the litter as it lay.
Swift.
4. Disorder or untidiness resulting from
scattered rubbish, or from thongs lying about uncared for; as, a room
in a state of litter.
5. The young brought forth at one time, by a
sow or other multiparous animal, taken collectively. Also
Fig.
A wolf came to a sow, and very kindly offered to take
care of her litter.
D. Estrange.
Reflect upon that numerous litter of strange,
senseless opinions that crawl about the world.
South.
Lit"ter, 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.
Tell them how they litter their
jades.
Bp. Hacke&?;.
For his ease, well littered was the
floor.
Dryden.
2. To put into a confused or disordered
condition; to strew with scattered articles; as, to litter a
room.
The room with volumes littered
round.
Swift.
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.
We might conceive that dogs were created blind,
because we observe they were littered so with us.
Sir T. Browne.
The son that she did litter here,
A freckled whelp hagborn.
Shak.
Lit"ter (l&ibreve;t"t&etilde;r), v. i.
1. To be supplied with litter as bedding; to
sleep or make one's bed in litter. [R.]
The inn
Where he and his horse littered.
Habington.
2. To produce a litter.
A desert . . . where the she-wolf still
littered.
Macaulay.
