- pronunciation:
- skae
vihn
j
r
- features:
- Word History
| part of speech: |
noun |
| definition: |
a person or thing that scavenges, esp. an animal that eats decaying flesh.
Vultures are not predators but scavengers.We were a couple of scavengers looking in the dumpster for something to serve as a table.
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In the 1300s, English towns began collecting a tax called "scavage" on goods sold by people who did not live in the town. The
scavenger was the person who collected the tax. After this practice ended, the word was used for a person hired to remove trash from the streets.