empty

English

Etymology

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[1] dating from Middle English.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈɛmp.ti/, /ˈɛm.ti/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛmpti, -ɛmti
  • Hyphenation: emp‧ty

Adjective

empty (comparative emptier, superlative emptiest)

A man sitting in an empty room (1)
  1. Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.
    Synonyms: unoccupied, clear, (obsolete) leer, (rare dialect) toom, clean
    Antonym: full
    an empty purse
    an empty jug
    an empty stomach
    • 1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001, part 2, page 103:
      […] something in the little man's appearance suggested that he would be sufficiently attentive to his own comfort to choose the emptiest table.
    • 2011 October 23, Phil McNulty, “Man Utd 1 - 6 Man City”, in BBC Sport‎:
      United's stature is such that one result must not bring the immediate announcement of a shift in the balance of power in Manchester - but the swathes of empty seats around Old Trafford and the wave of attacks pouring towards David de Gea's goal in the second half emphasised that City quite simply have greater firepower and talent in their squad at present.
  2. (computing, programming, mathematics) Containing no elements (as of a string, array, or set), opposed to being null (having no valid value).
    Antonym: non-empty
  3. (obsolete) Free; clear; devoid; often with of.
  4. Having nothing to carry, emptyhanded; unburdened.
  5. Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language.
    empty words, or threats
    empty offer
    empty promises
    • 1697, Colley Cibber, Woman's Wit‎, act V, page 190:
      […] words are but empty thanks; my future conduct best will speak my gratitude.
  6. Unable to satisfy; hollow; vain.
    empty pleasures
    • 1713, Alexander Pope, “Windsor-Forest. […]”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, lines 429-430:
      Ev'n I more sweetly pass my careless days, / Pleas'd in the silent shade with empty praise;
  7. Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial.
    empty dreams
  8. Destitute of, or lacking, sense, knowledge, or courtesy.
    empty brains
    an empty coxcomb
  9. (of some female animals, especially cows and sheep) Not pregnant; not producing offspring when expected to do so during the breeding season.
    Empty cow rates have increased in recent years.
  10. (obsolete, of a plant or tree) Producing nothing; unfruitful.
    an empty vine

Derived terms
Terms derived from empty (adjective)

Translations
devoid of content

Verb

empty (third-person singular simple present empties, present participle emptying, simple past and past participle emptied)

  1. (transitive, ergative) To make empty; to void; 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.
  2. (intransitive) 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.
    • 1899 [2nd century], Horace White, transl., Appian:
      Of these the Rhine empties into the Northern ocean and the Danube into the Euxine.

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

empty (plural empties)

  1. (chiefly in the plural) A container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty.
    Put the empties out to be recycled.
    • 2010, Don Thompson, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark, Aurum Press Limited, →ISBN:
      In 1960 Willem de Kooning said of [Leo] Castelli, ‘That son of a bitch, you could give him two beer cans and he could sell them.’ [Jasper] Johns laughed and created a sculpture of two Ballantine Ale empties. Castelli immediately sold the work to collectors Robert and Ethel Scull.
    • 2019 October, Steve Stubbs, photo caption, “'60' on the stone”, in Modern Railways, page 20:
      A number of locomotives have been drafted into the area to cover the traction shortfall, including two Class 60s: here No 60039 accelerates away from Eastleigh on the Chandlers Ford branch with the lunchtime Fareham to Whatley quarry empties [empty wagons] on 20 August 2019.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References
  1. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “empty”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading
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