/ˈɛmp.ti/, /ˈɛm.ti/, /ˈemp.ti/
OriginFrom 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.
- Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.
“an empty purse”
“an empty jug”
“an empty stomach”
- Containing no elements (as of a string, array, or set), opposed to being null (having no valid value).
- obsoleteFree; clear; devoid; often with of.
“And I ſhal finde you emptie of that fault,
Right ioyfull of your reformation.”
“For that fair femal Troop thou sawst, that seemd
Of Goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay,
Yet empty of all good wherein consists
Womans domestic honour and chief praise;”
- Having nothing to carry, emptyhanded; unburdened.
“I hope our Ladies treaſure and our owne,
May ſerue for ranſome to our liberties:
Returne our Mules and emptie Camels backe,
That we may trauell into Siria, […]”
“I hope it remaines not vnkindly with your Lordſhip, that I return'd you an empty Meſſenger.”
“And I will giue this people fauour in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come to passe that when ye goe, ye shall not goe empty:”
- Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language.
“empty words, or threats”
“empty offer”
“empty promises”
- Unable to satisfy; hollow; vain.
“empty pleasures”
“Ev'n I more sweetly pass my careless days,
Pleas'd in the silent shade with empty praise;”
- Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial.
- Destitute of, or lacking, sense, knowledge, or courtesy.
“empty brains”
“an empty coxcomb”
“Art thou thus bolden'd man by thy diſtres?
Or elſe a rude deſpiſer of good manners,
That in ciuility thou ſeem'ſt ſo emptie?”
- Not pregnant; not producing offspring when expected to do so during the breeding season.
“Empty cow rates have increased in recent years.”
- obsoleteProducing nothing; unfruitful.
“an empty vine”
“[…] and the seuen emptie eares blasted with the East wind[…]”
- Hungry.
- Lacking between the onset of tasting and the finish.
“Grotesquely vegetal, excessively oaked, empty wines were routinely produced in the mid-1980s. Since the late 1980s, however, the quality has soared.”
- ergative, transitiveTo make empty; to remove the contents of.
“to empty a well or a cistern”
“The cinema emptied quickly after the end of the film.”
“The suspected thief was requested to empty her pockets.”
- intransitiveOf 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.”
“Of these the Rhine empties into the Northern ocean and the Danube into the Euxine.”
- in-pluralA container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty.
“Put the empties out to be recycled.”
“The east-west flow consists in the westerly direction of the agricultural and industrial products of East Anglia; imports through London and Parkeston (Harwich); special traffic in coke to the Northam”
“A shaft runround was made to conduct the empties from the tippler to the empty side of the shaft where they would rejoin the old circuit.”
Formsemptier(comparative) · emptiest(superlative) · empties(present, singular, third-person) · emptying(participle, present) · emptied(participle, past) · emptied(past) · empties(plural)