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scavengermore about scavenger

scavenger


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Scavenger  \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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  scavenger 
  n  1:  a  chemical  agent  that  is  added  to  a  chemical  mixture  to 
  counteract  the  effects  of  impurities 
  2:  someone  who  collects  things  that  have  been  discarded  by 
  others  [syn:  {magpie},  {pack  rat}] 
  3:  any  animal  that  feeds  on  refuse  and  other  decaying  organic 
  matter 




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