EMPTY


Meaning of EMPTY in English

I. ˈem(p)tē, -ti adjective

( -er/-est )

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English ǣmtig, ǣmettig empty, unoccupied, from ǣmetta leisure, rest (from ǣ- not, without + -metta, from mōtan to have to) + -ig -y — more at must

1.

a. : containing nothing : devoid of contents : not filled

an empty box

especially : lacking typical, expected, or former contents

a cold empty stove

an empty pantry

an empty purse

an empty chair

shows the empty cross and the distant rising sun — T.A.Stafford

b. : vacant , unoccupied

an empty house

an empty lot

empty factory space

c. : devoid of people

an empty theater

along the road that had been so quiet and empty the night before, but was now crowded with people — Archibald Marshall

: uninhabited

colonize empty lands where the Red Indian nomad would be the only person aggrieved — G.M.Trevelyan

most of the northeast coast is empty except for the villages — P.E.James

: unfrequented

seemed less disagreeable when one could walk in quiet, empty places after dark — W.B.Yeats

the muddy waters are empty , except for an occasional small ship such as the one taking me away — H.W.Carter

d. of a female domestic animal : not bearing a fetus : not pregnant

an empty heifer

e. logic , of a class : having no members : null

2. : having nothing to carry or transport : not loaded or burdened

an empty truck

an empty mail pouch

: lacking cargo

an empty freighter

an empty camel train

3.

a. : destitute of reality or substance

an empty dream

empty lip service

b. : destitute of value : hollow , vain

an empty pleasure

conformation of appointments by the senate is anything but an empty form — American Guide Series: New Jersey

empty bragging and all the playacting that springs from insincerity — H.M.Parshley

an empty display of erudition — Benjamin Farrington

unless our party is reunited … the nomination for presidency will be purely an empty honor — F.D.Roosevelt

the idle or empty use of God's name — Interpreter's Bible

c. : destitute of effect or force

empty threats

d. : devoid of sense : meaningless , foolish

a speech made up of empty and platitudinous ideas

if all that cannot be understood or satisfactorily explained is to be dismissed as impossible or unreal, life will be an empty thing indeed — W.F.Hambly

e. : devoid of knowledge, intelligence, or sense

where a member of the aristocracy may be as husky of body and as empty of mind as the most menial of the working caste — W.C.Allee

f. : devoid of expression or of any sign of intelligence

an empty face

4. : hungry

after missing lunch the children were very empty by suppertime

5.

a. : lacking meaningful occupation or activity

she wakened in the morning with a slight feeling of anticipation, a faint stirring of hope, instead of the horror and dread of another empty day — Dorothy Witton

summer in the city was an empty season — Nancy Cardozo

: not occupied with any purposeful activity : idle

to fill the empty hours, her daughter asked her to embroider a worsted picture — Current Biography

she enjoys turning her empty leisure into a bountiful offering — H.M.Parshley

b. : having no purpose : useless

a certain amount of empty mileage is unnecessarily run — British Transport Review

c. : yielding no return

it was tedious work and involved following a lot of empty leads — Best True Fact Detective

6.

a. : marked by the absence of human life or activity or anything providing comfort or human warmth

the empty silence of the night

a cold and empty wasteland

blank and empty fields — Pearl Buck

b. : lacking human affection, warmth, or love

it had been an acrid empty home with everyone growing alien to one another — Norman Mailer

7. : destitute , devoid

empty of all purpose or meaning

the streets are empty of automobiles — Jean Stafford

did the roads look peculiarly empty of traffic — Meridel LeSueur

the air was never empty of their sweet, sad calling — Mary Webb

empty of meaning

8.

a. : marked by a strong sense of loss or unhappy purposelessness

the weeks after his wife's death were empty and desolate

: experiencing a marked and unsatisfied emotional need

one evening you are lonely and empty because the moon is shining and there is a strange beauty over the land — Charlton Laird

b. : incapable of experiencing further emotion : emotionally dulled or exhausted

his outburst had left him completely empty , like a shaken sack — Liam O'Flaherty

Synonyms:

vacant , blank , void , vacuous : empty is a general term describing something lacking content; its usual antonyms are full or filled

an empty basket

an empty room from which the furniture had been moved

the dark and empty auditorium of a theater in the morning when only one or two cleaners are moving about — Alan Moorehead

Figuratively, empty indicates lack of content or significance

when words came they did not break the silence. The wall remained. The words that came were empty, meaningless words — Sherwood Anderson

the unthinking mind is not necessarily dull, rude, or impervious; it is probably simply empty — C.W.Eliot

vacant describes what is without an occupant, incumbent, tenant, inmate, or person or thing appropriately settled or fixed within

a vacant room ready for a new tenant

the nook among the brambles where his van had been standing was as vacant as ever the next morning — Thomas Hardy

a vacant throne

a vacant professorship

Figuratively, vacant may indicate lack of an agency or attribute considered as a usual occupant

her partner, the poor snail, was a vacant creature, scarcely more than half-witted — and the hard work, of course, was put off on her — Willa Cather

his vacant eye, his lack of interest in what went on about him, and his strange gestures and mutterings were symptoms of a failing mind — C.B.Nordhoff & J.N.Hall

blank describes what is free from writing or marking

a blank book

a blank page

In more figurative uses it may indicate lack of signs of expression, comprehension, or meaning

she had not a word to say, and in blank astonishment she beheld the carriage drive off — William Black

their utterances are more or less seriously taken because the public, equally ignorant, is just as blank and undiscriminating — C.H.Grandgent

void intensifies the notions of empty

void barren desert

a large smooth shining face, void of a sign of mustache or whiskers — Henry James †1916

void of human interest or poetic quality, as yet unstirred by a breath of life — H.O.Taylor

vacuous may suggest the emptiness of a vacuum; in figurative applications to persons and their notions, it is a synonym of inane

the substances are dried in a bell jar or desiccator over concentrated sulfuric acid. The drying takes place more rapidly if the containing vessel is rendered vacuous — J.F.Thorpe & Martha A. Whiteley

to see whether he could detect any surprise or suspicion. There was nothing to be read in the vacuous face, blank as a school notice-board out of term — Graham Greene

Synonym: see in addition vain .

II. verb

( -ed/-ing/-es )

transitive verb

1.

a. : to make empty, devoid of content, or vacant : deprive of contents, furnishings, or inhabitants

empty a box

empty a truck

empty a house

empty a city

b. : deprive , divest

empty a phrase of all meaning

emptied himself of all power to control

the Christ who emptied Himself of His glory and accepted humiliation and suffering — R.M.French

his eyes emptied themselves of light and intelligence — R.H.Newman

a style emptied of human content — Anthony Blunt

the curriculum can be emptied of all the studies and the disciplines which relate to faith and to morals — Walter Lippmann

c. : to discharge (itself) of contents

the stream empties itself into the river

the water pipe emptied itself into the rain barrel with a gurgling sound

d. : to fire (a repeating firearm) until empty

he leaped to his feet and emptied his gun through the broken window — S.H.Holbrook

2. : to remove from what holds, encloses, or contains (as by carrying, pouring, or leading out)

empty the grain from a sack

empty the money from a purse

empty the furniture from a house

empty the cattle from a stable

3. : to place, deposit, carry, dump, or pour by emptying from what holds, encloses, or contains

empty grain into a bin

empty his armful of packages onto the table

empty the sacks from the truck onto the porch

no waste, garbage, or refuse may be emptied on highways — American Guide Series: New Hampshire

intransitive verb

1. : to become empty

the theater emptied rapidly after the show ended

2. : to empty or discharge its contents

the river empties into the ocean

3. : to defecate or urinate : evacuate

III. noun

( -es )

: something that is empty ; especially : an empty container (as a box, bottle, cask) or vehicle (as a cab or car)

an engine pulling five full boxcars, one coal car, and several empties

always drunk two quarts of wine a day on the job, tossing his empties into the basement — Clifford Aucoin

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.