empty

Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.

Adjective

  1. Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.
    • an empty purse
    • an empty jug
    • an empty stomach

    Synonyms: unoccupied clear leer toom clean

    Antonyms: full

  2. Containing no elements (as of a string, array, or set), opposed to being null (having no valid value).

    Antonyms: non-empty

  3. Free; clear; devoid; often with of.
    • And I ſhal finde you emptie of that fault, Right ioyfull of your reformation. - c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...
    • 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; - 1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise...
  4. 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, […] - c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe],...
    • I hope it remaines not vnkindly with your Lordſhip, that I return'd you an empty Meſſenger. - c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies,...
    • 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: - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],...
  5. Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language.
    • empty words, or threats
    • empty offer
    • empty promises
  6. 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; - 1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 18:
  7. Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial.
    • empty dreams
  8. 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? - c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William...
  9. Not pregnant; not producing offspring when expected to do so during the breeding season.
    • Empty cow rates have increased in recent years.
  10. Producing nothing; unfruitful.
    • an empty vine
    • […] and the seuen emptie eares blasted with the East wind[…] - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 41:27:
  11. Hungry.
  12. 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. - 1993, Robert M. Parker, Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, page 967:

    Synonyms: hollow

Origin

From 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.

Forms

emptier emptiest

Synonyms

empty empty as a pauper's purse empty as the tomb on Easter clean leer toom unfilled vacant vacuumlike vacuous void

Antonyms

cramful cramfull freighted fraught full jammed jam-packed jam rammed laden loaded non-empty packed packed to the gills packed to the rafters rammed rammed to the rafters stuffed stuffed to the gills

Hypernyms

insubstantial lacking

Hyponyms

bare hollow unfreighted unfraught unfurnished uninhabited unladen unloaded unstocked unsupplied

Related

∅ ∅- -∅ empty set

Derived

come away empty emptily emptiness empty as a pauper's purse empty as the tomb on Easter empty barrels make the most noise empty base empty calorie empty cans make the most noise empty canvas empty chair empty coaching stock empty constructor empty-element tag empty function empty graph empty-handed empty-headed empty-hearted empty-hoofed emptyish empty leaf empty letter empty morph

Noun

  1. A 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 Northamptonshire...
    • 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. - 1960, The Iron and Coal Trades' Review - Volume 180, page 1411:

Forms

empties

Related

dead soldier

Derived

run on empty

Verb

  1. To 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.

    Synonyms: void evacuate

  2. Of 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. - 1899 [2nd century], Horace White, transl., Appian:

Forms

empties emptying emptied

Antonyms

fill

Derived

emptiable empty the clip empty the tank overempty unemptied