Part 736

D. Estrange.

Reflect upon that numerous litter of strange, senseless opinions that crawl about the world.

South.

Lit"ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Littered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Littering.] 1. To supply with litter, as cattle; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.

Tell them how they litter their jades.

Bp. Hacke&?;.

For his ease, well littered was the floor.

Dryden.

2. To put into a confused or disordered condition; to strew with scattered articles; as, to litter a room.

The room with volumes littered round.

Swift.

3. To give birth to; to bear; -- said of brutes, esp. those which produce more than one at a birth, and also of human beings, in abhorrence or contempt.

We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us.

Sir T. Browne.

The son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp hagborn.

Shak.

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Lit"ter (lt"tr), v. i. 1. To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter. [R.]

The inn Where he and his horse littered.

Habington.

2. To produce a litter.

A desert . . . where the she-wolf still littered.

Macaulay.

||Lit`te`ra`teur" (l`t`r`tr"), n. [F.] One who occupies himself with ||literature; a literary man; a literatus. " Befriended by one ||kind-hearted littérateur after another." C. Kingsley. || Lit"ter*y (?), a. Covered or encumbered with litter; consisting of or constituting litter.

Lit"tle (?), a. [The regular comparative of this word is wanting, its place being supplied by less, or, rarely, lesser. See Lesser. For the superlative least is used, the regular form, littlest, occurring very rarely, except in some of the English provinces, and occasionally in colloquial language. " Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear." Shak.] [OE. litel, lutel, AS. l&?;tel, ltel, l&?;t; akin to OS. littil, D. luttel, LG. lütt, OHG. luzzil, MHG. lützel; and perh. to AS. lytig deceitful, lot deceit, Goth. liuts deceitful, lut&?;n to deceive; cf. also Icel. ltill little, Sw. liten, Dan. liden, lille, Goth. leitils, which appear to have a different root vowel.] 1. Small in size or extent; not big; diminutive; -- opposed to big or large; as, a little body; a little animal; a little piece of ground; a little hill; a little distance; a little child.

He sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.

Luke xix. 3.

2. Short in duration; brief; as, a little sleep.