Definition of scavenger

< scavenge

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scav·en·ger    (skvn-jr) KEY 

NOUN:

1. One that scavenges, as a person who searches through refuse for food.
2. An animal, such as a bird or insect, that feeds on dead or decaying matter.
3. Chemistry A substance added to a mixture to remove or inactivate impurities.

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ETYMOLOGY:
Alteration of Middle English scauager, schavager, official charged with street maintenance, from Anglo-Norman scawager, toll collector, from scawage, a tax on the goods of foreign merchants, from Flemish scauwen, to look at, show