scavenge

/'skævindʤ/

Thân thiện

A hungry raccoon scavenges for food in a fallen trash can.

Definition

1. Verb:
   • To search for and collect discarded items or waste: To look through waste or unwanted material to find usable items, often for survival or reuse.
   • To feed on dead or decaying organic matter: To consume dead animals (carrion) or refuse as a source of food, typical of certain animals.
   • To remove impurities or waste from something: To clean or purify a substance or area by removing unwanted material.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:
  • After the festival, volunteers helped scavenge recyclable materials from the park.
  • Vultures scavenge the carcasses of animals that other predators have killed.
  • The engineer had to scavenge the engine block to remove all carbon deposits.

Advanced Usage

• "to scavenge for [something]": To search diligently, often in waste or discarded items, to find a specific thing.
  • During the economic crisis, many people were forced to scavenge for food.
• "to scavenge from [something/somewhere]": To collect usable items from a particular source or location.
  • The artist scavenges interesting materials from abandoned buildings for her sculptures.

Variants and Related Words

• Scavenger (n): An animal that feeds on dead organic matter, or a person who collects discarded items.
  • Raccoons are common urban scavengers.
• Scavenging (n/adj): The act or process of scavenging.
  • The scavenging behavior of hyenas is essential to the ecosystem.

Synonyms

• Forage: To search widely for food or provisions.
• Glean: To gather information or material bit by bit, often from various sources.
• Rummage: To search untidily through a mass or receptacle.

Related Phrasal Verbs

(This word is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. Its meaning is typically conveyed directly or with prepositions like "for" or "from," as shown in the Advanced Usage section.)

Related Idioms

(There are no common idioms that use the exact word "scavenge" as a core component.)

Học thuật

Verb

1. remove unwanted substances from
2. feed on carrion or refuse
   • hyenas scavenge
3. collect discarded or refused material
   • She scavenged the garbage cans for food
4. clean refuse from
   • Scavenge a street

Từ đồng nghĩa

• clean
• salvage