Litter | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Lĭt'ter, n.

noun

n. [Fr. litière, Pr. leittiera, littiera, Sp. litera, Pg. liteira, It. lettiera, L. Lat. lectaria, from Lat. lectus, couch, bed.] 1. A bed so furnished with supports that it may be easily carried about with a person in it. Here's a litter ready; lay him in it. Shak.

A coarse bed of straw or hay for animals to rest upon; also, a covering of straw for plants.
A confused mass of objects little valued; scattered rubbish.
Hence, a condition of disorder or confusion;— said especially of a room.
The number of pigs or other small brutes born at once; the occupants of a litter of straw.

Lĭt'ter, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. LITTERED; p. pr. & vb. n. LITTERING.] 1. To supply with litter, as cattle; to furnish with litter, as a barn or stall. For his ease well littered was the floor. Dryden.

To put into a confused or disordered condition; as, to litter a room. “The room with volumes littered round.” Swift.
To give birth to; to bear. Shak.

Lĭt'ter, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. To produce a litter. “A horrible desert . . . where the she-wolf still littered.” Macauley.