debrisdébrisn.
/ˈdɛbriː/, /ˈdeɪbriː/, U.S. /dəˈbri/, /ˌdeɪˈbri/ The remains of anything broken down or destroyed; ruins, wreck:
a. originally (in English) figurative.
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b. in Geology applied to any accumulation of loose material arising from the waste of rocks; also to drifted accumulation of vegetable or animal matter (Page); thence,
c. any similar rubbish formed by destructive operations.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > that which is left or remainder > [noun] > remains > after destructive agency > decayed remnant(s)
relicsc1350
ruinc1425
ruins1544
decays1582
debris1708
wreck1713
shard1786
faulturea1821
detritus1834
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > refuse or rubbish > [noun]
wrakea1350
outcastingc1350
rammel1370
rubble1376
mullockc1390
refusec1390
filtha1398
outcasta1398
chaff?a1400
rubbishc1400
wastec1430
drossc1440
raff?1440
rascal1440
murgeonc1450
wrack1472
gear1489
garblec1503
scowl1538
raffle1543
baggage1549
garbage1549
peltry1550
gubbins?1553
lastage1553
scruff1559
retraict1575
ross1577
riddings1584
ket1586
scouring1588
pelf1589
offal1598
rummage1598
dog's meat1606
retriment1615
spitling1620
recrement1622
mundungus1637
sordes1640
muskings1649
rejectament1654
offscouring1655
brat1656
relicts1687
offage1727
litter1730
rejectamenta1795
outwale1825
detritus1834
junk1836
wastements1843
croke1847–78
sculch1847
debris1851
rumble1854
flotsam1861
jetsam1861
pelt1880
offcasting1893
rubbishry1894
littering1897
muckings1898
wastage1898
dreck1905
bruck1929
crap1934
garbo1953
clobber1965
dooky1965
grot1971
tippings-
1708 J. Collier Eccl. Hist. Great Brit. I. ii. vii. 109 To retire with the Debris of the Army.
1735 J. Swift Lett. to Duke of Dorset Your Grace is now disposing of the debris of two bishoprics.
1778 H. Walpole Let. to W. Mason 18 July The best they can hope for, is to sit down with the débris of an empire.
1802 J. Playfair Illustr. Huttonian Theory 363 A temporary receptacle for the debris of the Alps.
1849 R. I. Murchison Siluria xiv. 356 The débris of the ancient rocks.
1851 D. Wilson Archæol. & Prehistoric Ann. Scotl. iii. iii. 423 Accumulated rubbish and debris.
1858 A. Geikie Story of Boulder ix. 176 The sandstone cliffs..are battered down and their debris carried out to sea.
1885 Act 48 & 49 Victoria c. 39 §5 The sanitary authority shall remove the same and all foundations, débris, and other materials.
d. = slime n. 4, tailing n.1 2b.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > mineral material > ore > [noun] > crushed ore
knock-bark1653
schlich1677
slick1683
sludge1757
slime1758
pulp1837
debris1871
slum1874
1871 Cape Monthly Mag. June 358 In the paucity of materials in the débris of pans worked for diamonds, I would have less difficulty in finding traces of these rocks.
1882 H. G. Hanks Sec. Rep. State Min. Calif. 283 Debris,..the silt, sand and gravel that flow from the hydraulic mines; called in miner's parlance, tailings, slums, and sometimes by the outlandish name of ‘slickens’.
1902 D. Ward Digest Criminal Cases Superior Courts Colony C.G.H. 5/2 The accused, an employé, not of De Beers, but of a débris washer.
1967 Gloss. Mining Terms (B.S.I.) viii. 12 Dirt, (debris),..any material, such as rock or clay, etc., associated with the mineral and extracted during mining operations.
Compounds
debris-cone n. a cone formed by the accumulation of volcanic ejecta, debris, etc.
ΚΠ
1890 J. D. Dana Char. Volcanoes 113 The cone was found to be literally a debris-cone, not a lava-cone or cinder-cone in any part.
1890 J. D. Dana Char. Volcanoes 171 Between 1880 and 1882 another debris cone began in the basin of Halema'uma'u.
1895 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. (ed. 4) iii. v. 285 The basin contained a debris-cone made of the fallen blocks, and not at all of ejected material.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1708