Litter, n.
Etymology: [F. litière, LL. lectaria, fr. L. lectus couch, bed. See Lie to be prostrated, and cf. Coverlet.]
1. A bed or stretcher so arranged that a person, esp. a sick or wounded person, may be easily carried in or upon it. There is a litter ready; lay him in 't. Shak.
2. Straw, hay, etc., scattered on a floor, as bedding for animals to rest on; also, a covering of straw for plants. To crouch in litter of your stable planks. Shak. Take off the litter from your kernel beds. Evelyn.
3. Things lying scattered about in a manner indicating slovenliness; scattered rubbish. Strephon, who found the room was void. Stole in, and took a strict survey Of all the litter as it lay. Swift.
4. Disorder or untidiness resulting from scattered rubbish, or from thongs lying about uncared for; as, a room in a state of litter.
1 more senses
5. The young brought forth at one time, by a sow or other multiparous animal, taken collectively. Also Fig. A wolf came to a sow, and very kindly offered to take care of her litter. D. Estrange. Reflect upon numerous litter of strange, senseless opinions that crawl about the world. South.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Litter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Littered; p. pr. & vb. n. Littering.]
1. To supply with litter, as cattle; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall. Tell them how they litter their jades. Bp. Hacke For his ease, well littered was the floor. Dryden.
2. To put into a confused or disordered condition; to strew with scattered articles; as, to litter a room. The room with volumes littered round. Swift.
3. To give birth to; to bear; -- said of brutes, esp. those which produce more than one at a birth, and also of human beings, in abhorrence or contempt. We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us. Sir T. Browne. The son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp hagborn. Shak.
Litter, v. i.
1. To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter. [R.] The inn Where he and his horse littered. Habington.
2. To produce a litter. A desert . . . where the she-wolf still littered. Macaulay.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for litter; he lists it under flock.
Where he writes about it:
The individuals in a brood or litter are related to each other; those in the other groups may not be. — from flock
Brood is used chiefly of fowls and birds, litter of certain quadrupeds which bring forth many young at a birth; we speak of a brood of chickens, a litter of puppies; brood is sometimes applied to a family of young children. — from flock