garbologist
(gɑːˈbɒlədʒɪst)
Also garbiologist.
[f. garbage n. + -ologist.]
A dustman.
| 1965 N.Z. Woman's Weekly 4 Oct. 103/1 RCA tells us of their local ‘garbiologists’. 1966 New Scientist 13 Jan. 97/3 One dustman in court last week called himself a garbologist. 1968 Radio Times 26 Sept. 23/4 Waste is now big technicological business. No wonder British dustmen are campaigning to have themselves officially renamed ‘garbologists’. |
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Add: 2. A student of garbology; one who examines refuse in order to gain information about a modern culture or society, or occas. about an individual.
| 1976 Telegraph (Brisbane) 14 July 30/2 Dr Rathje, PhD Harvard, anthropologist turned garbologist. 1979 Ibid. 6 June 41/3 Mr A. J...Weberman, who is the world's foremost garbologist, or dustbin-delver. 1986 Daily Tel. 28 Nov. 16/7 Over the years Bob Dylan and others have been the target of ‘garbologists’. 1988 Kitchener–Waterloo (Ontario) Rec. 8 June f1/1 ‘A single bag of trash testifies eloquently to the eating, reading and recreational habits of the person who produced it.’ Private detectives and university ‘garbologists’ have known that for years. |