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trash (trăsh)
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n.
1.
a. Worthless or discarded material or objects; refuse or rubbish.
b. A place or receptacle where rubbish is discarded: threw the wrapper in the trash.
2.
a. Something considered worthless or of inferior quality, such as a piece of writing.
b. Disparaging, often abusive speech about a person or group.
c. A person or group of people regarded as worthless or contemptible.
3.
a. Something broken off or removed to be discarded, especially plant trimmings.
b. The refuse of sugarcane after extraction of the juice.
tr.v. trashed, trash·ing, trash·es
1. Slang
a. To throw away; discard: trashed the broken toaster.
b. To damage or wreck, as by vandalism: The house got trashed during the party.
c. To criticize severely or attack verbally: The film was trashed by reviewers.
2.
a. To remove twigs or branches from (a tree, for example).
b. To cut off the outer leaves of (growing sugarcane).
[Probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Norwegian dialectal trask.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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