rubbish

Formsrubbishes, rubbishing, rubbished

1. 1
   wastenounCommonwealthuncountable

   Waste material and unwanted things that people throw away.

   The council collects household rubbish every Thursday morning.

   Volunteers cleared twenty bags of rubbish from the riverbank at the weekend.

   Similartrash, garbage, junk, waste, refuse

   Note

   Across the Commonwealth this is the everyday word for household waste, where American English says trash or garbage, and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar already pairs it with trash and offal. It is usually uncountable: a bag of rubbish or some rubbish rather than a rubbish, and the rubbish is put out or collected on a set day.

2. 2
   nounCommonwealthuncountable

   Talk or writing that is foolish or makes no sense.

   The report's claims about the new drug are complete rubbish.

   He talked rubbish all evening about his plans to buy a football club.

   Similarbaloney, bullshit, bull, bollocks, balderdash

   Oppositesense

   Note

   Here ideas are treated as waste, and the usual company is talk: people talk rubbish, dismiss a claim as complete rubbish, or call a thing rubbish with no article at all. In D. H. Lawrence's Kangaroo (1923), Lovat calls his own essays "rubbish mostly", and Harriet answers that he doesn't really think them rubbish: the word as a modest shrug she refuses to accept.

3. 3
   I disagreeinterjectioncolloquialCommonwealthIrelandUK

   Used to say firmly that what someone has just said is nonsense or untrue.

   "Rubbish! I was at home all night and you know it."

   "The match was fixed." "Oh, rubbish. They just played badly."

   Similarbollocks, bullshit

   Note

   Contradiction is its job: it usually opens the reply, and it can be repeated and built up for force, as in Alfred Sutro's The Walls of Jericho: Rubbish, sir, rubbish! Pestilent and pernicious rubbish! Unlike the cry of dismay, it disputes what was said rather than lamenting it; bollocks and bullshit are its ruder equivalents.

4. 4
   very badadjectivecolloquialCommonwealthIrelandUK

   Extremely bad, to the point of being awful.

   It was a rubbish film with a predictable ending and wooden acting.

   The signal out here is rubbish, so I'll ring you from the village.

   Similarawful, terrible, crap, crappy, dreadful

   Oppositegreat, excellent, brilliant

   Note

   This is casual speech from Britain, Ireland and the wider Commonwealth. The adjective sits before a noun or after be (a rubbish day, the signal is rubbish), and people are rubbish at whatever they do badly. Comparison is usually more rubbish and most rubbish, though rubbisher and rubbishest are heard too.

5. 5
   junknounCommonwealthuncountable

   Something, or a number of things, of very poor quality.

   The gift shop was stocked with overpriced rubbish that nobody needed.

   Half the novels on the airport shelves are forgettable rubbish.

   Similarjunk, trash, garbage, dross, tat

   Note

   Here the word passes judgment on quality rather than on what is thrown out: goods, books and food can all be rubbish while still in use. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn has the variant rubbage for poor food, and the adjective carries the same verdict in a single word.

6. 6
   criticizeverbcolloquialCommonwealthIrelandUKtransitive

   To criticize or belittle someone or something harshly.

   Opposition leaders were quick to rubbish the government's figures.

   Critics rubbished her first novel, but readers loved it.

   Similardismiss, disparage, belittle, slam, deride

   Oppositepraise

   Note

   A punchy verb for running down ideas, work and people alike, and it works well in the passive: in Penelope Lively's How It All Began, names are rubbished or extolled. Colloquial as it is, it served A. J. Faulkner in debate on the Human Rights Commission Bill in 1977, and in Nick Hornby's High Fidelity three workmates rubbish each other's all-time top-five lists.

7. 7
   oh nointerjectioncolloquialCommonwealthIrelandUK

   Used to react to a situation or piece of news as awful or terrible.

   Rubbish. I've left my wallet on the bus, and my house keys were in it.

   "They've sold out of tickets." "Oh, rubbish, I really wanted to go."

   Similardamn, drat, blast, bother

   Note

   Usually it follows aw or oh, as in Aw, rubbish!, and it is in effect the adjective said on its own, short for that's rubbish. The speaker accepts the bad news and complains about it rather than questioning it.

8. 8
   drop litterverbcolloquialAustraliaCommonwealthHong KongIrelandUKtransitive

   To make a place untidy by dropping litter in it.

   Signs along the highway warn drivers not to rubbish the bush.

   Campers who rubbish the national park face heavy fines.

   Similarlitter, trash

   Note

   Australia and Hong Kong use the verb for littering a place, and public campaigns have adopted it: a hugely successful 1970s slogan ran You wouldn't rubbish your home. Australia's your home. Don't rubbish Australia. The object is a place, which keeps it apart from the disparaging verb.

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