garbage

Everyday

1. (mainly US, Canada) Rubbish; food waste and other things you throw away. tree →
2. (informal) Nonsense; things that are untrue or very bad: That film was garbage. tree →
3. (computers) Useless or meaningless data. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life in North America people take out the garbage and put it in the garbage can; in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand people say «rubbish» and «bin». In science lessons garbage is sorted for recycling. Phrases: «take out the garbage», «garbage truck», «garbage can», «talk garbage».

Examples

• It's your turn to take out the garbage. tree →
• The garbage truck comes on Tuesdays. tree →
• Put the banana peel in the garbage. tree →
• Don't talk garbage — of course you can do it! tree →
• We sorted the garbage into paper, plastic and food. tree →
• A family throws away about 20 kg of garbage a week. tree →

Note

Uncountable: «some garbage», «a bag of garbage», never «garbages». US/Canada: garbage, trash; UK/Australia/Ireland/NZ: rubbish; Australia also «garbo» (slang for the garbage collector). Meaning 2 is informal.