scavenger : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: scavenger	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for scavenger
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
scavenger n a chemical agent that is added to a chemical mixture to counteract the effects of impurities someone who collects things that have been discarded by others Synonym(s): magpie, scavenger, pack rat any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying organic matter
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Scavenger \Scav"enger\, 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[94]l.), any beetle which feeds on decaying substances, as the carrion beetle. {Scavenger crab} (Zo[94]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.