pick of the litter
The best person or item in a group; the best that one has to offer.
Of the books I read this summer, A Tale of Two Cities was the pick of the litter.
litter
/ˈlɪt.ɚ/
noun 5verb 5
Collocations
5(noun.)
VERB + LITTER
drop, leave
Visitors who drop litter in the park can receive a fine from the council.
clean up, clear up, pick up
LITTER + VERB
be strewn
Broken glass and plastic bags were strewn across the beach after the storm.
LITTER + NOUN
basket, bin
lout
The park keeper warned those litter louts about leaving rubbish everywhere.
Definitions
noun
1
Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.
Quen he had made me hale and fere
As pelows ben to chambres agreable So is harde strawe lytter for the stable.
2
Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.
Near-synonyms: pallet, straw bed, hay bed (all broadly synonymous)
The traitours sought the Kyng... yn the withdrawyng chaumburs, yn the litters, undir the presses.
3
Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.
Silkworms... must be well cleansed from the litter.
The heir of an estate... troubled himself little about decorating his abode, and, if he attempted decoration, seldom produced anything but deformity. The litter of a farmyard gathered under the windows of his bedchamber, and the cabbages and gooseberry bushes grew close to his hall door.
4
A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs.
... In a lytter made tho full royall...
Glou. There is a Litter ready, lay him in't, And driue toward Douer friend...
5
A mobile bed or couch transported upon or suspended from poles placed over human shoulders or animal backs.
He ordeyned lyttyers for the wounded knyghtes.
verb
1
To drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it (as discarding in public areas rather than trash receptacles).
By tossing the bottle out the window, he was littering.
2
To scatter carelessly about.
3
To strew (a place) with scattered articles.
Their Clamour, 'lighting from their Chairs, / Grew lowder, all the way up Stairs; / At Entrance louder, where they found, / The Room with Volumes litter'd round; [...]
4
To give birth to, in the manner of animals.
We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us.
The son that she did litter here, / A freckled whelp hagborn.
5
To produce a litter of young.
A desert […] where the she-wolf still littered.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
noun — material used to provide a bed for animals
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
runt of the litter
The smallest and weakest person in a group, especially a group of siblings.
Example Bank
601
Quen he had made me hale and fere
Wiktionary02
As pelows ben to chambres agreable So is harde strawe lytter for the stable.
Wiktionary03
To place daily under those Animals... a sufficient quantity of fresh New Straw, well spread, which is call'd making of Litter.
Wiktionary04
By tossing the bottle out the window, he was littering.
Wiktionary05
Their Clamour, 'lighting from their Chairs, / Grew lowder, all the way up Stairs; / At Entrance louder, where they found, / The Room with Volumes litter'd round; [...]
Wiktionary06
We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us.
WiktionaryUsage Notes
i Register
In some senses, litter is marked as obsolete. Watch for register when choosing this word.
Your note
not saved0 chars