scavenger

noun scav·en·ger \ ˈska-vən-jər \

Updated on: 15 Apr 2018

Definition of scavenger

1 chiefly British : a person employed to remove dirt and refuse from streets

2 : one that scavenges: such as

a : a garbage collector

b : a junk collector

c : a chemically active substance acting to make innocuous or remove an undesirable substance

3 : an organism that typically feeds on refuse or carrion

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Recent Examples of scavenger from the Web

While carnivores could scavenge a burial, of course, a completely undisturbed skeleton would offer pretty compelling evidence that it had been placed out of reach of scavengers on purpose.

— kiona n. smith, Ars Technica, "Machine-learning says Homo naledi may not have buried its dead," 6 Apr. 2018
Obviously, many explorers/scavengers had preceded us.

— john kelly, Washington Post, "Before the wrecking ball claimed Rossdhu Castle, explorers breached its walls," 17 Feb. 2018
Now it’s 10 years later; the kaiju-from-another-dimension invasion (the worst kind) has been quelled, and young Jake is a scavenger and a layabout and a character arc waiting to be put into motion.

— michael phillips, chicagotribune.com, "'Pacific Rim: Uprising' review: This time, it's impersonal," 21 Mar. 2018
These, coupled with hundreds of other chemical receptors, are likely the reason cockroaches are such effective scavengers, the researchers report today in Nature Communications.

— kimberly hickok, Science | AAAS, "American cockroaches thrive in cities, thanks to their incredibly long genomes," 20 Mar. 2018
After the station closed in 1988, scavengers and vandals gradually reduced it to a near ruin.

— phoebe wall howard, Detroit Free Press, "Ford looks at buying Detroit's long-vacant Michigan Central Station," 19 Mar. 2018
Barca, who is 34, subsists as a scavenger deep inside the Nāpali Coast State Park on Kaua‘i’s west coast.

— brendan borrell, Smithsonian, "Hawaii’s Last Outlaw Hippies," 28 Feb. 2018
The carcasses often ended up as food for dogs or scavengers.

— michael s. rosenwald, Washington Post, "The truth about Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil is 131-year-old fake news," 2 Feb. 2018
The bones had been pulled apart, presumably by scavengers, animals.

— peter van sant, CBS News, "Rodney Alcala: The Killing Game," 17 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'scavenger.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

You might guess that "scavenger" is a derivative of "scavenge," but the reverse is actually true; "scavenger" is the older word, first appearing in English in 1530, and the back-formation "scavenge" came into English in the mid-17th century. "Scavenger" is an alteration of the earlier "scavager," itself from Anglo-French scawageour, meaning "collector of scavage." In medieval times, "scavage" was a tax levied by towns and cities on goods put up for sale by nonresidents, in order to provide resident merchants with a competitive advantage. The officers in charge of collecting this tax were later made responsible for keeping streets clean, and that's how "scavenger" came to refer to a public sanitation employee in Great Britain before acquiring its current sense referring to a person who salvages discarded items.

Origin and Etymology of scavenger

alteration of earlier scavager, from Anglo-French scawageour collector of scavage (duty collected from non-resident street merchants), from skawage scavage, from Middle French dialect (Flanders) escauver to inspect, from Middle Dutch scouwen; akin to Old English scēawian to look at — more at show

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1530

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year