empty
/ˈɛm(p).ti/ adjective, verb, noun
Forms emptier emptiest empties emptying emptied
- adjective Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant. “an empty purse”
- adjective (computing, programming, mathematics) Containing no elements (as of a string, array, or set), opposed to being null (having no valid value).
- adjective (obsolete) Free; clear; devoid; often with of.
- adjective Having nothing to carry, emptyhanded; unburdened.
- adjective Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language. “empty words, or threats”
- adjective Unable to satisfy; hollow; vain. “empty pleasures”
- adjective Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial. “empty dreams”
- adjective Destitute of, or lacking, sense, knowledge, or courtesy. “empty brains”
- verb (transitive, ergative) To make empty; to remove the contents of. “to empty a well or a cistern”
- verb (intransitive) Of a river, duct, etc: to drain or flow toward an ultimate destination. “Salmon River empties on the W shore about 2 miles below Bear River.”
- noun (chiefly in the plural) A container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty. “Put the empties out to be recycled.”
Synonyms
unoccupied clear leer toom clean hollow empty as a pauper's purse empty as the tomb on Easter unfilled vacant vacuumlike vacuous void evacuate discharge vacate abandon empty-bellied
Antonyms
full non-empty cramful cramfull freighted fraught jammed jam-packed jam rammed laden loaded packed fill
Etymology
From Middle English emty, amty, from Old English ǣmtiġ, ǣmettiġ (“vacant, empty, free, idle, unmarried”, literally “without must or obligation, leisurely”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”) + Proto-Germanic *mōtijô, *mōtô (“must, obligation, need”), *mōtiþô (“ability, accommodation”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“measure; to acquire, possess, be in command”). Related to Old English ġeǣmtigian (“to empty”), ǣmetta (“leisure”), mōtan (“can, to be allowed”). More at mote, meet.
The interconsonantal excrescent p is a euphonic insertion dating from Middle English.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Containing nothing; not holding or having anything within; void of contents or appropriate contents; not filled; --said of an inclosure, as a box, room, house, etc.; as, an empty chest, room, purse, or pitcher; an empty stomach; empty shackles.
- adjective Free; clear; devoid; --often with of. "That fair female troop . .
- noun An empty box, crate, cask, etc.; --used in commerce, esp. in transportation of freight; as, "special rates for empties."
- verb To deprive of the contents; to exhaust; to make void or destitute; to make vacant; to pour out; to discharge; as, to empty a vessel; to empty a well or a cistern.
Etymology [AS. emtig, æmtig, æmetig, fr. æmta, æmetta, quiet, leisure, rest; of uncertain origin; cf. G. emsig busy.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “empty”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details