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