adjective, -ti⋅er, -ti⋅est, verb, -tied, -ty⋅ing, noun, plural -ties.| 1. | containing nothing; having none of the usual or appropriate contents: an empty bottle. |
| 2. | vacant; unoccupied: an empty house. |
| 3. | without cargo or load: an empty wagon. |
| 4. | destitute of people or human activity: We walked along the empty streets of the city at night. |
| 5. | destitute of some quality or qualities; devoid (usually fol. by of): Theirs is a life now empty of happiness. |
| 6. | without force, effect, or significance; hollow; meaningless: empty compliments; empty pleasures. |
| 7. | not employed in useful activity or work; idle: empty summer days. |
| 8. | Mathematics. (of a set) containing no elements; null; void. |
| 9. | hungry: I'm feeling rather empty—let's have lunch. |
| 10. | without knowledge or sense; frivolous; foolish: an empty head. |
| 11. | completely spent of emotion: The experience had left him with an empty heart. |
| 12. | to make empty; deprive of contents; discharge the contents of: to empty a bucket. |
| 13. | to discharge (contents): to empty the water out of a bucket. |
| 14. | to become empty: The room emptied rapidly after the lecture. |
| 15. | to discharge contents, as a river: The river empties into the sea. |
| 16. | Informal. something that is empty, as a box, bottle, or can: Throw the empties into the waste bin. |

emp·ty (ěmp'tē) adj. emp·ti·er, emp·ti·est
v. tr.
An empty container. [Middle English, from Old English ǣmtig, vacant, unoccupied, from ǣmetta, leisure; see med- in Indo-European roots.] emp'ti·ly adv., emp'ti·ness n. Synonyms: These adjectives mean without contents that could or should be present. Empty applies to what is wholly lacking contents or substance: an empty room; empty promises. Word History: In Old English Ic eom ǣmtig could mean "I am empty," "I am unoccupied," or "I am unmarried." The sense "unoccupied, at leisure," which did not survive Old English, points to the derivation of ǣmtig from the Old English word ǣmetta, "leisure, rest." The word ǣmetta may in turn go back to the Germanic root *mōt-, meaning "ability, leisure." In any case, Old English ǣmtig also meant "vacant," a sense that was destined to take over the meaning of the word. Empty, the Modern English descendant of Old English ǣmtig, has come to have the sense "idle," so that one can speak of empty leisure. |
empty
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