empty

English Online Dictionary. What means empty‎? What does empty mean?

English

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛmp.ti/, /ˈɛm.ti/
• Rhymes: -ɛmpti, -ɛmti
• Hyphenation: emp‧ty

Adjective

empty (comparative emptier, superlative emptiest)

1. Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.

   Synonyms: unoccupied, clear, (obsolete) leer, (rare dialect) toom, clean

   Antonym: full
2. (computing, programming, mathematics) Containing no elements (as of a string, array, or set), opposed to being null (having no valid value).

   Antonym: non-empty

3. (obsolete) Free; clear; devoid; often with of.
4. Having nothing to carry, emptyhanded; unburdened.
5. Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language.

   empty words, or threats

   empty offer

   empty promises
6. Unable to satisfy; hollow; vain.
7. Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial.

8. Destitute of, or lacking, sense, knowledge, or courtesy.
9. (of some female animals, especially cows and sheep) Not pregnant; not producing offspring when expected to do so during the breeding season.

10. (obsolete, of a plant or tree) Producing nothing; unfruitful.
11. Hungry.
12. (oenology) Lacking between the onset of tasting and the finish.

    Synonym: hollow

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

empty (third-person singular simple present empties, present participle emptying, simple past and past participle emptied)

1. (transitive, ergative) To make empty; to remove the contents of.

   Synonym: void
2. (intransitive) Of a river, duct, etc: to drain or flow toward an ultimate destination.

Antonyms

• fill

Derived terms

• empty the clip
• empty the tank

Translations

Noun

empty (plural empties)

1. (chiefly in the plural) A container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty.

Derived terms

• run on empty

Translations

See also

• dead soldier

References

Further reading

• “empty”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “empty”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.