I. -jə(r) noun
( -s )
Etymology: alteration of scavager
1. : a former English official charged originally with the collection of scavage and later with various other duties including that of keeping the streets clean
2. chiefly Britain : a person employed to remove dirt and refuse from the streets of a municipality : street cleaner
3. : one that scavenges: as
a. : a garbage collector
b. : junkman
c. : one that collects the refuse about a logging camp
d. : a chemically active substance either present in or added to a mixture to make innocuous or to remove an undesirable substance
calcium … is already being used as a scavenger in melting steel, copper, nickel, lead — A.M.Bateman
the tin compound acts also as a scavenger for hydrogen chloride — A.S.Kenyon
— compare getter
4.
a. : an organism that devours refuse, carrion, or matter injurious to the general health
b. : scavenger beetle
c. : a small mottled green marine percoid food fish ( Lethrinus nebulosus ) of warm shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific area
II. intransitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to clean up filth (as street refuse)