I would like to know the meanings of Scavenger.?

Question

My wifes Grandmothers Grandfather (1850's) is described as a scavenger.How many meanings is there for a scavenger.

Answer 1

Here is an example of a scavenger.  A lobster is a scavenger.  It is way way down at the bottom of the food chain and it eats the dirtiest filthiest stuff it can find.

Answer 2

It denotes an officer who collected scavage,a toll on foreign merchants' goods.It is from the French escauwer which means " to inspect."

Answer 3

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.]

scavenger - someone who collects things that have been discarded by others

Or

hoarder - a person who accumulates things and hides them away for future



Scavenger \Scav"en*ger\, n. [OE. scavager an officer with various duties, originally attending to scavage, fr. OE. & E. scavage.

A person whose employment is to clean the streets of a city, by scraping or sweeping, and carrying off the filth. The name is also applied to any animal which devours refuse, carrion, or anything injurious to health.

Etymology: alteration of earlier scavager, from Anglo-French scawageour collector of scavage (duty collected from non-resident street merchants), from skawage scavage, from Middle French dialect (Flanders) escauver to inspect, from Middle Dutch scouwen; akin to Old English scēawian to look at — more at show

Date: 1530

1chiefly British : a person employed to remove dirt and refuse from streets

2: one that scavenges: as a: a garbage collector b: a junk collector

Answer 4

This is what I found for you,

Scavenger / Scaleraker  1) Street cleaner 2) Scavenger - also a child employed in a spinning mill to collect loose cotton lying about the floor under machinery

This came from this occupations list,

http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/index.html

scavenger    

One that scavenges, as a person who searches through refuse for food.

An animal, such as a bird or insect, that feeds on dead or decaying matter.

Chemistry A substance added to a mixture to remove or inactivate impurities.

[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.]

These two came from this web site,

http://dictionary.reference.com/

I hope this helps.