▪ I. trash, n.1
(træʃ)
Forms: (? 4 trasche), 6 trasshe, traish, trasse, 6–7 trashe, 7 traisse, 6– trash.
[With exception of the doubtful instance in 1 b, known only from 16th c.; origin obscure.
Cf. Norw. dial. trask lumber, trumpery, trash, baggage (which Falk & Torp refer to tras twig, sprig), Icel. tros rubbish, fallen leaves and twigs, and Norw. trase, Sw. trasa rags, tatters.]
1. a. That which is broken, snapped, or lopped off anything in preparing it for use; broken or torn pieces, as twigs, splinters, ‘cuttings from a hedge, small wood from a copse’ (E.D.D.), straw, rags; refuse.
| 1555 Bill in Chancery in Athenæum 17 July (1886) 92/2 A carpenter's yarde, wherein he dothe laye his tymber and Trasshe. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1584) 255 How wil he give wood to the Hospitall, that warmes himself by the trash of straw? 1670 Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 108 The Woods..are so thick with Under-brush, old rotten Trees, and Leaves, and such Trash. 1675 Evelyn Terra (1729) 45 If you lay any Fern-brakes, or other Trash about them. a 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais iii. l. 401 They break..to very Trash the woody parcels. 1727 Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Cask, The Trash, or gross Substance of pressed Grapes. 1763 Brit. Mag. IV. 464 The floor being thus prepared,..cover it with wet ground leaves or other tobacco trash. 1867 Baker Nile Tribut. ii. 53 Bamboos and reeds, with trash of all kinds, were hurried along the muddy waters. |
(
a)
spec. in the
U.S., domestic refuse, garbage.
| 1906 H. de B. Parsons Disposal of Municipal Refuse iii. 21 Rubbish is discarded trash, composed principally of all kinds of paper, wood, rags, mattresses, bedding, boxes,..tin cans,..bottles,..and the like. 1925 Amer. City Jan. 54/2 The collection of garbage and trash may be made by the city with its own organization. 1931 W. G. McAdoo Crowded Years i. 12 The abandoned..building... Its steps were littered with trash, and many..windows were broken. 1962 A. Lurie Love & Friendship vii. 127 Mother used to get up at five in the morning..to sweep the front porch and carry the trash out. 1977 New Yorker 24 Oct. 128/3 Truckloads of trash were taken to the prison dump. |
b. An old worn-out shoe.
dial. The first
quot. fits the sense; but its date, 150 years before any other example of the word, makes its place doubtful.
| [c 1360 E.E. Allit. P. B. 40 Þen þe harlot with haste helded to þe table With rent cokrez at þe kne & his clutte [= clouted] trasches.] c 1746 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. Gloss., Trash, unripe fruit; also an over⁓worn shoe. 1828 Craven Gloss. s.v., In the plural trashes, a pair of worn-out shoes. 1885 I. Banks In his own Hand iv, His week's tramp had..worn his shoes into trashes. |
c. Broken ice mixed with water; trash-ice.
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxvi. 342 Warped about one hundred yards into the trash. |
† d. (?).
Obs.| ? a 1550 in Brand's Pop. Antiq. (1849) I. 120 For paulme⁓flowers, cakes, trashes, and for thred on Palme Sonday, viii{supd}. |
2. spec. The refuse of sugar-canes after the juice has been expressed; cane-trash, also, the dried leaves and tops of the canes, stripped off while still growing, to allow them to ripen; field-trash.
| 1707 Sloane Jamaica I. p. xlv, It was the custom to burn their Trash, which is the..remainder of the Sugar Canes after the juice is squeezed out. 1790 Castles in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 349 Burning the cane trash (or straw of the cane). Ibid. 356 The field trash (or the dried leaves and tops of the canes). 1793 J. B. Moreton W. Ind. Cust. 47 The [sugar-] canes being cut, and all the trash lopped off. 1842 [see cane n.1 10]. 1884 Macm. Mag. Nov. 19/2 Just before harvest, when the dead leaves or trash are thick around the canes. |
3. a. Anything of little or no worth or value; worthless stuff; rubbish; dross. (Said of things material or immaterial.)
| c 1518 Skelton Magnyf. 2164 As for his plate of syluer, and suche trasshe. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 156 Who steales my purse, steales trash. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 14 (1619) 515 What can the Papist say now for his mony-masses, pardons, indulgences, and such trash? 1728 Young Love Fame iii. 192 Ambition feeds on trash. 1795 Mills in Phil. Trans. LXXXVI. 43 The great facility with which the gold might be separated from the trash. 1838 Thackeray Second Lect. Fine Arts Wks. 1900 XIII. 284 Some..new pictures, in the midst of a great quantity of trash. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xix, What poor, mean trash this whole business of human virtue is! |
b. spec.: see
quot.| 1749 Wealth Gt. Britain 51 There are three kind of mark'd herring among the Dutch;..the last sort are called trash. |
c. Worthless notions, talk, or writing; nonsense; ‘rubbish’, ‘stuff’.
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. E.'s Pref., Like trash & bagguage been those saiynges that are incidente in oracions. 1653 Milton Hirelings Wks. 1851 V. 383 Those Theological Disputations..rather perplex and leven pure Doctrin with scholastical Trash. 1737 Fielding Hist. Register i. Wks. 1784 III. 319 My Register is not to be fill'd..with trash for want of news. 1874 Burnand My time xxx. 293 Don't let me hear any more of such trash. |
† d. Contemptuously applied to money or cash; ‘dross’.
Obs. slang. (
Cf. quot. 1604 in 3, which has
prob. influenced later use.)
| a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, iii. i, And therefore must I bid him provide trash, for my master is no friend without money. [1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iv. iii. 26 Shall we now, Contaminate our fingers, with base Bribes? And sell..our..Honors For so much trash, as may be grasped thus?] 1742 Young Nt. Th. vi. 218 Drudge, sweat,..for every gain, For vile contaminating trash. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas i. viii, Money! said he,..you have a poor opinion of Spanish charity, if you think that people of my stamp have any occasion for such trash upon their travels. |
4. A worthless or disreputable person; now, usually, such persons collectively.
white trash, the poor white population in the Southern States of America; now also used outside the Southern States of American and in
attrib. use.
Cf. white a. 4 a.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. v. i. 85, I do suspect this Trash To be a party in this Iniurie. 1750 Chesterfield Lett. 5 June, Prostitutes, actresses, dancing women, and that sort of trash. 1827 Scott Chron. Canongate v, Sheriffs, and bailiffs, and sic thieves and trash of the world. 1831 H. J. Finn Amer. Comic Ann. 88 ‘You be right dere,’ observed Sambo, ‘..else what fur he go more 'mong niggers den de white trash?’ 1833 F. Kemble Jrnl. 6 Jan. (1835) II. 112 The slaves themselves entertain the very highest contempt for white servants, whom they designate as ‘poor white trash’. 1863 ‘E. Kirke’ My Southern Friends 55 The poor trash..scratched a bare subsistence from a sorry patch of beans and collards. 1883 Fiske in Harper's Mag. Feb. 423/1 North Carolina was the paradise of the ‘white trash’. 1901 W. Churchill Crisis i. i. 7, I..put a bullet past his ear, just to let the trash know the sound of it. Ibid. ii. x. 211 It was not even a wild dream that white-trash Lincoln would be elected. 1932 W. Faulkner Light in August xvi. 363 Who told you I am a nigger, you little white trash bastard? 1942 B. Robertson Red Hills & Cotton viii. 189 If that was the sort of good-for-nothing trash she was, then she could just leave. 1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited i. viii. 180 Who are all this white trash, anyway? 1973 Sunday Times 10 June (Colour Suppl.) 51/4 He said that all the Australians were white trash. 1977 J. Didion Bk. of Common Prayer iv. i. 158 ‘Lower that white-trash voice,’ Warren said. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as (see
esp. sense 1 a (b) above)
trash basket,
trash-bin,
trash can,
trash collection,
trash collector,
trash compactor,
trash container,
trash pickup,
trash roof;
trash-eater,
trash-monger;
trash-lined adj.;
trashbag, (
a) see
quot. 1688; also, old shoes; also, a disreputable or worthless person (
dial.); (
b) chiefly
U.S., a rubbish bag;
trashman N. Amer. = dustman 1;
trash-house, a building on a sugar-plantation where the stalks from which the juice has been expressed are stored for fuel;
trash-ice, broken ice mixed with water (
cf. 1 c);
trash-rack, a rack set in a stream to prevent the passage of floating debris;
trash-reader, a critical reader of novels and the like for a publisher;
trash-turner, a metal plate in a sugar-mill, that guides the canes between pairs of rollers (Webster 1911).
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xxii. (Roxb.) 278/1 A *Trash Bagg, of some called an Apron, wherein are seuerall pocketts..to place the seuerall implyments..which the Angler hath occasion to use. 1792 S. Burdy Life of Late Rev. Philip Skelton 161 He had a trash bag, as they call it, in which he kept needles, thread, and such like articles, to put a few stitches, if necessary, in his clothes. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., That son of hern's a regular trashbags. 1887 S. Cheshire Gloss., Trash⁓bag, (1) a person whose boots or clothes are dirty, and generally who is slovenly in dress or habits, (2) in pl. old shoes. 1934 Webster, Trash bag. 1960 Guardian 2 Feb. 5/1 The provision..of brown paper ‘trash bags’ for free issue to picnic parties. 1978 Sci. Amer. Feb. 158/3 Some household materials are also suitable: wrapping paper, brown paper bags and plastic trash bags (the kind used to line the inside of garbage cans). |
| 1895 Dialect Notes I. 395 *Trash-basket, waste-paper basket. N.Y. City. 1959 Listener 5 Mar. 411/2 The trash basket in his mother's bedroom. 1972 New Yorker 26 Aug. 21/3 Trash baskets stood in ranks on the empty sand, like sentinels. |
| 1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions i. i. 38 Janet came in a few minutes later to find him sifting through the kitchen *trashbin. 1966 Punch 9 Mar. 331/2 How many mushroom enterprises leave the customer with equipment fit only for the trash⁓bin or the attic? 1976 Columbus (Montana) News 27 May 1/1 Members of the Columbus High School..have ‘bicentennialized’ the fire hydrants and trash bins. |
| 1929 Sci. Amer. May 445/3 A prominent member of Washington society last winter rolled 25,000 dollars worth of diamonds in a chamois bag and carelessly left the bag on a table where her little son found it and carried it to the *trash can. 1936 W. Stevens New Caravan 74 A trash can at the end of the world. 1960 Times 14 Sept. 12/7 Our dustbins—sorry, trash cans. 1981 ‘P. Mallory’ Killing Matter xvii. 173 A shaggy dog, working the trash cans. |
| 1967 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 26 Jan. (1970) 480 One of the Mayors said that his budget for *trash collection and cleaning had tripled in the last two years. 1979 Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. i. 12/3 (Advt.), A continuous city-wide program of trash collection was implemented in 1974. |
| 1967 Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. i. 34/1, I have a bone to pick with the Dedham *trash collectors. |
| 1973 Washington Post 13 Jan. e 16/3 (Advt.), Optional *trash compactors and tub enclosures. 1977 Chicago Tribune 2 Oct. xii. 11/7 (Advt.), Kitchen complete with all appliances including disposal and trash compactor. |
| 1968 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 17 Jan. (1970) 617 We came out loud and strong for one more trash pickup a week..and for more *trash containers. |
| 1712 Steele Spect. No. 431 ¶3 Find out some Name for these craving Damsels,..*Trash-eaters, Oatmeal-chewers, Pipe-champers [etc.]. |
| 1793 J. B. Moreton W. Ind. Cust. 48 The canes..are..spread about the works till they dry, and then..carried to a long large shade, called a *trash⁓house, where they are piled, as being the only fuel for boiling the sugar. |
| 1864 Webster, *Trash-ice, crumbled ice mixed with water. 1891 Cent. Dict. cites Kane. |
| 1894 J. E. Humphrey in Pop. Sci. Monthly XLIV. 496 Placed in *trash-lined bins. |
| 1965 Amer. Psychologist Dec. 1014/2 A good idea was translated into banalities about..the friendly postman and *trashman. 1971 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 July 26/7 We used to organize regular expeditions..early on the mornings before the trashman came. |
| 1694 Motteux Rabelais V. 236 *Trashmongers and Spanglemakers. |
| 1603 Florio Montaigne i. li. (1632) 167 Metonymia, Metaphore, Allegorie, Etimologie, and other such *trashnames of Grammar. |
| 1968 *Trash pickup [see trash container above]. 1978 Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. (Parade Suppl.) 31/1 You should see Beverley Hills on trash pickup day. |
| 1913 J. B. Bishop Panama Gateway v. ii. 3 The entrances [of the penstocks] are closed by cast-iron head-gates and bar-iron *trash-racks. |
| 1757 Smollett Let. 12 May in J. Irving Bk. Dumbarton. (1879) II. 197 Employed as a *trash reader for the Critical Review. |
| 1902 in Daily Rec. & Mail 23 Aug. 5 Fine ash and sand rained down..with occasional showers of large stones. Some..were so hot as to set fire to the ‘*trash’ roofs of huts..seven miles from the crater. |
b. attrib. or as quasi-adj., designating that which is worthless or of poor quality. Chiefly
U.S. In
quot. 1843
perh. short for
trashy a. 1.
| 1843 Dickens Let. 7 Aug. (1974) III. 537 We were obliged at the last moment to alter an excellent bill; and the entertainments were very trash. 1940 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Jan. 5/1 Flocks of ducks—mostly ‘trash’ ducks like Black Bay coots and shelducks. 1944 National Geogr. Mag. Jan. 27/1 Trash fish and tons of discarded shrimp offal are now valuable in making fertilizer. 1966 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Company I've Kept xiii. 270 That availability to Yankee trash-culture which has developed apace. 1967 G. Steiner Lang. & Silence 103 The serious novel has had to choose topics formerly exploited by trash-fiction. 1971 Times 27 Nov. 3/3 The so-called ‘trash mail’ service, the delivery of unaddressed circulars [by postmen]. 1973 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 4 Oct. 31/3 Two inventors say they have a great new food product, but the name leaves something to be desired. It's ‘trash fish’ sausage. 1977 Amer. N. & Q. XV. 108/2 The image of Latin America in some German ‘trash’ novels of the twentieth century. 1979 R. Barnard Posthumous Papers xiii. 127 The offspring of shopkeepers, who bribed him with trash food. 1983 New Yorker 5 Dec. 160/2 About seven tons of trash fish eventually turned belly-up—Sacramento suckers, hardheads. |
Hence
ˈtrashify v., trans. to turn into trash, render trashy;
ˈtrashless a., free from trash, purified from worthless elements.
| 1663 Sir G. Mackenzie Relig. Stoic 36 Not suffering him to lay over his vitiousness upon Providence, a shift too ordinar amongst such as misunderstand the trashless Doctrine of the reformed Churches. 1831 Examiner 132/2 Thus is trash thrice trashified. |
Add:
[3.] e. = *
trash rock below.
| 1983 Harpers & Queen Aug. 68/2 The label ‘Trash’ was coined by the Cannibals' front man, Mike Spenser, who opened the Garage Club as a venue for Trash bands to ‘bang their heads against the wall together’. 1986 Chicago Tribune 23 Feb. c12/2 The band, Toxic Reasons, ‘is hard-core trash: loud and fast’. |
[5.] trash rock orig. and chiefly
U.S., any variety of rock music noted for its raucous sound or throwaway nature;
spec. = *
garage n. 3 a; hence
trash rocker.
| 1980 N.Y. Times 19 Oct. ii. 24/2 It takes a sense of humor to appreciate early 60's *trash-rock classics like Gary ‘U.S.’ Bonds's ‘Quarter To Three’. 1986 Los Angeles Times 7 Apr. vi. 3/2 Armed with a loopy sense of humor and a loud & proud trash rock approach..the quartet remains junky but chic, stumbling into some solid, if shabby, rock grooves. 1984 Sounds 29 Dec. 4 (caption) The hideous apparition is..American *trash rocker Dee from Twisted Sister. 1987 N.Y. Times 25 Dec. c28/6 The swank, suave Buster Poindexter, who was once a guttersnipe trash-rocker with the New York Dolls, is well on his way to the Toastmaster Generalship by now. |
▸
trash television n. orig. and chiefly
U.S. television programming regarded as poor in quality, usually because it relies on sensationalism and titillation to attract an audience;
esp. a type of talk show in which members of the public are encouraged to discuss intimate problems in their personal lives.
| 1983 Washington Post (Nexis) 22 Jan. b1 Channel 9..seems to be specializing these days in the tackier forms of *trash television,..and it's almost tantalizing to wonder how much lower the station can go. 1993 N.Y. Times Mag. 28 Nov. 42/3 It is not only trash television that blurs the line between news and entertainment anymore. Almost everybody does it, squeezing every last drop of blood out of every last disaster, war and crime. 1999 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 6 Aug. 18/7 The king of trash television, Jerry Springer,..may have come up with his biggest shocker to date: a run for the United States Senate. |
▸
trash TV n. orig. and chiefly
U.S. = trash television n. at Additions.
| 1985 N.Y. Times 5 July c4/6 All the thrills, chills and laughs of a *trash TV miniseries! 1996 G. G. Scott Can we Talk? ii. xi. 275 Some of the more exploitive shows..may be taken off the air because of low ratings, in part related to the recent popular reaction against trash TV. 2002 N.Y. Times Mag. 17 Mar. 50/1 The opera..is very much in keeping with the ‘trash TV’ spirit of Springer's show. |
▪ II. trash, n.2 Now
dial. [Goes with trash v.1, of which it may be the source, or the vbl. n.] A cord used to check dogs in breaking or training them; a leash. Also
trash-cord.
| 1611 Markham Country Content. i. i. (1615) 15 Your Huntsmans lodging, wherein hee shall also keep his cooples, liams, collars, trashes, boxes. 1830 Scatcherd Hist. Morley 195 To ‘Trash’ signifies to clog, incumber, or impede, and accordingly..the rope tied by sportsmen round the necks of fleet pointers, to..check their speed, is hereabouts called a ‘Dog Trash’. 1884 T. Speedy Sport iv. 43 It will be found in many cases necessary to use a trash-cord in breaking dogs. 1899 Dickinson Cumberld. Gloss., Trash cord, a long slender rope fastened to the collar of a young pointer (or setter) if headstrong and inclined to run in. |
▪ III. trash, v.1 Obs. exc. in sense 2.
(
træʃ)
[Of obscure origin; perh. the 15th c. trase is the same word. As it is a hunting term, a French origin is naturally suspected, but the
OF. trasier,
trachier ‘to draw a line through, strike out, efface’, which agrees in form, does not explain sense 1, though it is
app. the origin of sense 2.]
† 1. trans. To check (a hound) by a cord or leash; hence
gen. to hold back, restrain, retard, encumber, hinder.
Obs.| 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 81 Who t' aduance, and who To trash for ouertopping. a 1619 Fletcher Bonduca i. i, I fled too, But not so fast;..he trasht me, Nennius. 1646 Hammond Tracts 31 Grieving the Spirit of God,..trashing of God in his course of grace. a 1660 ― Serm. x. Wks. 1683 IV. 534 To incumber and trash us in our violent furious marches. 1837 De Quincey Revolt of Tartars Wks. 1862 IV. 145 There was not a chance for them, burdened and ‘trashed’ as they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as the Cossacks. |
2. To efface, obliterate.
Western U.S. This was
prob. a term of the French trappers.
| 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer., To trash a trail, an expression used at the West, meaning to conceal the direction one has taken by walking in a stream. |
▪ IV. trash, v.2 Obs. exc. dial. [app. f. Norse: cf. Sw. traska, Norw. traske:—*traðska in the same sense.] 1. intr. To walk or run with exertion and fatigue,
esp. through mud or mire.
| 1607 W. S[mith] Puritan iv. i, A guarded Lackey to run befor't, and pyed liueries to come trashing after't. 1608 Middleton Trick to Catch Old One i. iv, I still trashed and trotted for other men's causes. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 59 To trash on foot in the mire on a rainy morning. a 1716 South Serm. (1744) X. 72 Those that trash through the mire and dirt. 1825 Brockett N.C. Words, Trash,..to tramp about with fatigue. 1878 Cumberld. Gloss., Trash,.. to walk quickly over wet ground. ‘Trashan’ through thick and thin for a heall day togidder’. |
2. trans. To fatigue (with walking, running, or exertion); to wear out.
| 1685 Life Bp. Jewell 36 Being naturally of a spare and thin Body, and thus restlesly trashing it out with reading, writing, preaching and travelling, he hastened his death. 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf x, He hasna a four-footed creature but the vicious blood thing he rides on, and that's sair trashed wi' his night wark. 1821 Carlyle Early Lett. (1886) II. 5 The fineness of the weather did not prevent the journey from trashing me a good deal. 1911 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 605/2 The bullocks will be trashed. |
b. fig. To labour (a point). [
Cf. thrash.]
| a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 87 Every Nation know their own way best, to what they are tied, as we know ours. He is a Busie-body that trasheth this in a Pulpit. |
Hence
ˈtrashing ppl. a., fatiguing, wearing out; also
ˈtrash-mire dial., one who trashes in the mire.
| 1828 Craven Gloss., Trash-mire, a slut. 1861 Times 25 Sept., They have had long marches, bivouacs in bad nights, and very trashing work. |
▪ V. trash, v.3 [f. trash n.1] 1. trans. To free from trash or refuse;
spec. to strip the outer leaves from (growing sugar-canes) so that they may ripen more quickly.
| 1793 B. Edwards Hist. Brit. Col. W. Ind. II. v. i. 223 The ancient practice of trashing ratoons (i.e.) stripping them of their outward leaves, being of late..justly exploded. 1902 Q. Rev. July 18 White men simply cannot work and ‘trash’ the cane in tropical Queensland. |
2. To treat as trash; hence, to discard as worthless.
| 1909 in Cent. Dict. Supp. |
3. a. To vandalize (property or goods),
esp. as a means of protest.
Occas. intr., to perform such acts of destruction. Also
fig. colloq. (chiefly
U.S.).
| 1970 Guardian 14 May 2 On Sunday night a small gang went out to trash but a sudden rainstorm stopped the attack. 1971 Time 22 Mar. 26 Backstage at Comes a Day he got drunk and trashed his dressing room. 1974 H. L. Foster Ribbin', Jivin', & Playin' Dozens vi. 266 Students or unauthorized visitors who are physically attacking someone, ‘ripping off’ school equipment, ‘trashing’, attempting to burn or blow up a building, or otherwise interfering with instruction or threatening a student or worker with physical harm. 1975 ‘S. Marlowe’ Cawthorn Jrnls. (1976) xix. 174 The room..had been trashed..by either the patrons..or by the police. 1976 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 24 Aug. 29/8 Mine was one of a group of offices trashed at Trinity College in early June. Trashed, not burglarized. Nothing stolen. Art works smashed. Manuscripts and notes left alone, but books soaked in wine or worse. Furniture ripped, ceiling tiles torn. 1984 New Yorker 20 Feb. 43/1 They've trashed the laws. |
b. To injure seriously, destroy or kill (someone or something).
U.S. colloq.| 1973 W. McGivern Reprisal 196 Don't be squeamish... Remember that Jules Levy, a Jew, trashed the pusher who murdered your son. 1977 C. McFadden Serial (1978) l. 107/1 Harvey threatened Spenser with grievous bodily harm... ‘Whaddaya wanna trash me for?’ |
c. To reduce or impair the quality of (a work of art, etc.); to expose the worthless nature of (something), to deprecate.
colloq. (chiefly
U.S.).
| 1975 New Yorker 12 May 114/2 In Hollywood, the writer is an underling whose work is trashed, or, at best, he's a respected collaborator without final control over how his work is used. 1976 Time 5 Apr. 42/2 The presentation is ignorant, cluttered and coarse, and it trashes the sculpture. Works that need to be walked around..can only be seen frontally. 1977 Saturday Night (Toronto) May 72/1 With Ghost Fox, I thought, Houston would trash all the melodramatic comic-book stuff about Indians with one neat blow. 1981 London Rev. Bks. 2–15 July 12/1 She writes..yet another trashing of radical chic. This might be more gripping had she herself not trashed radical chic already. |