Debris

Definition: Debris

Debris

Noun

1. The remains of something that has been destroyed or broken up.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "debris" was first used: 1708. (references)

Food & Agriculture

Geography

Literature

Mining

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Debris

Inutility

Litter, rubbish, junk, lumber, odds and ends, cast-off clothes; button top; shoddy; rags, orts, trash, refuse, sweepings, scourings, offscourings, waste, rubble, debris, detritus; stubble, leavings; broken meat; dregs; (dirt); weeds, tares; rubbish heap, dust hole; rudera, deads.

Part

Debris, odds and ends, oddments, detritus; excerpta; member, limb, lobe, lobule, arm, wing, scion, branch, bough, joint, link, offshoot, ramification, twig, bush, spray, sprig; runner; leaf, leaflet; stump; component part; sarmentum.

Pulverulence

Powder, dust, sand, shingle; sawdust; grit; meal, bran, flour, farina, rice, paddy, spore, sporule; crumb, seed, grain; particle. (smallness); limature, filings, debris, detritus, tailings, talus slope, scobs, magistery, fine powder; flocculi.

Crosswords: Debris

Serbo-Croatian (debris).

Debris! We got debris (Twister; writing credit: Michael Crichton; Anne-Marie Martin)

I have to tell you Starscream, you're giving space debris a bad name (Beast Wars: Transformers; writing credit: Bob Forward; Lawrence G. DiTillio)

A pile of debris. (So Long, Mom (A Song for World War III); performing artist: Tom Lehrer)

Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus? (references; author: unknown)

Debris Clearance (1944)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• 2000 Earth Orbital Debris - NASA Research on Satellite and Spacecraft Effects (reference)

• Artificial Space Debris (Orbit, a Foundation Series) (reference)

• Celestial Debris (reference)

• Cosmic Debris : The Collected History and Improvisations of Frank Zappa (reference)

• Debris of Battle: The Wounded of Gettysburg (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Aural Debris (reference)

• Diamonds & Debris (reference)

• Miscellaneous Debris [EP] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

From ground-based telescopes, the glowing gaseous debris surrounding dying, sun-like stars in ... Credit: NASA.

Astronomers analyzing debris from a comet that broke apart last summer spied pieces as small ... Credit: NASA.

A view of Tacoma and Point Defiance from the spit at Gig Harbor. Debris lines on beach mark the extent of tides in the area. The ferry boat is proceeding from Tacoma to Vashon Island. Credit: America's Coastlines.

Spring Creek Debris Dam Reservoir. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

Looking downstream from the debris dam at Iron Mountain Mine. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Debris and trash on the Flat Pond Trail. Credit: National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR).

Project Vortex-99. A backlit funnel cloud and tornado. Note the debris column. Credit: National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL).

Neighbors and friends work to remove debris around remains of a farmhouse. Large tornado devastated area. Credit: National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL).

Figure 40. Seligo bottle used to sample a few centimeters below the surface and to avoid floating debris. This was designed in about 1900 by Arthur Seligo. This example was made by Max Marx in 1912. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now.

Figure 26. Effects of pressure on different types of hollow tubes as studied by John Young Buchanan, both during his experiences on the CHALLENGER expedition and with Prince Albert I of Monaco on the PRINCESS ALICE II in 1902. Buchanan published his study of hyperpressure effects in 1903. The brass tube, copper sphere, and debris from a Portier and Richard bottle were all studied in 1902. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

We would love to stay and help, shouted Ford, picking his way over the mangled debris, "only we're not going to."

Bands of little boys came out from the towns to break the windows and to pick over the debris, looking for treasures

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

These cells scavenge cellular debris. (references)

Moist soil enriched with decomposing organic debris. (references)

Chemicals released from dying cells then induce surrounding cells to scavenge the debris. (references)

Business

Where possible, the affected area is sealed off and asbestos contaminated debris is vacuum-transferred into sealed containers. (references)

Minorities

United Kingdom

Although the residents claimed that their demonstration "was not against the children," the protest involved shouting sectarian abuse and throwing debris (including bags of urine) at the children. (references)

Worker Rights

Afghanistan

Children from the age of 6 often worked to help support their families by herding animals in rural areas and by collecting paper and firewood, shining shoes, begging, or collecting scrap metal among street debris in the cities. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expressions using "debris": debris avalanche ♦ debris basin ♦ debris dam ♦ debris damming ♦ debris flow levee ♦ debris from demolition ♦ flood debris accumulation ♦ nuclear weapon debris ♦ rock debris ♦ unconfined debris flow ♦ wood debris ♦ woody debris. Additional references.

Beginning with "debris": debris-flow, debris-flows.

Afrikaans

afval (apostasy, apostatize, clippings, cuttings, defection, desert, drop, drop out, fall, fall away, lose, lose flesh, lose in weight, parings, refuse, remainder, rest, rubbish, rubble, secede, waste, windfall). (various references)

Albanian

copëra. (various references)

Arabic 

‏كتلة حجارة صخرية, ‏نهر جليدي, ‏حطام (ruins, shipwreck, wrack, wreckage), ‏طمي (alluvial, alluvium, silt, wash), ‏أنقاض (rubbish, rubble, scrap, spoil), ‏أطلال (wreckage). (various references)

Bulgarian 

развалини (remains), късове, остатъци (dregs, junk, leftovers, odd-come-shorts, oddments, odds and ends, offal, pickings, remainder, rinsings, trash, waste), отломки (brash, rubble), нанос (alluvion, alluvium, blanket, deposit, deposition, drift, float, silt, warp, wash). (various references)

Chinese 

尾矿. (various references)

Czech

trosky (wreckage), sutiny, pozùstatky (body, relics). (various references)

Danish

sprængmasse (muck), skrald (rubbish, rubble), nedsprængt fjeld (muck), nedbrudt materiale (detritus). (various references)

Dutch

puin (rubbish, rubble), rommel (chaos, clippings, confusion, cuttings, disorder, garbage, leavings, parings, refuse, remainder, rest, rubbish, rubble, tangle, waste, windfall), prullaria (rubbish, rubble), afval (apostasy, clippings, cuttings, defection, garbage, leavings, parings, refuse, remainder, rest, rubbish, rubble, waste, windfall). (various references)

Esperanto

rubo (rubbish, rubble). (various references)

Faeroese

rusk (rubbish, rubble). (various references)

Farsi 

خرده (Bit, Bittock, Crumb, Fragment, Glimmer, Grain, Jot, Nip, Particle, Shred, Small, Vestige, Weeny, Whit), اوار (Collapse), اثارمخروبه , اشغال روی هم ریخته , باقی مانده (Dregs, Extant, Scantling, Surplus). (various references)

Finnish

detritus (detritus), pirstaleet (scattered remnant), hajaantunut aines (detritus), eloperäinen jäte (detritus). (various references)

French

débris (detritus), ordures. (various references)

German

Trümmer (carcass, fragmental, remnants, rubble, ruin, ruins, whopper, wreck, wreckage), schutt (detrital, detritus, gravel, grit, rubbish, rubble). (various references)

Greek 

συντρίμμια (detritus), συντρίμματα (scree, talus). (various references)

Hebrew 

מפולת (collapse, fall, ruin), שפך עיים, שפוכת (detritus), עיי מפולת, חרבות, בלית (detritus). (various references)

Hungarian

törmelék (chippings, detritus, offal, potsherd, refuse, rubbish, rubble, scrap, shatter, slump scraps, wreckage), roncs (wrack, wreck, wreckage), romok (remains), romhalmaz (shambles), mállási termék, hulladék (cabbage, clippings, cut-offs, cuttings, dross, end, garbage, junk, lop, oddments, offal, paring, pickings, refuse, scrapings, spilt, spoilage, sweepings, trash, wastage, waste). (various references)

Indonesian

reruntuhan, puing-puing, puing (rubble), peninggalan (estate, inheritance, relic, remainder). (various references)

Italian

detrito (rubble), detriti (detritus). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

砕片. (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

デブリ , さいへん (crumbling, reorganization, reshuffle, second calamity, second change). (various references)

Korean 

파편 (fragment, fragmentation, shatter). (various references)

Manx

trustyr (deads, dirt, dross, filth, garbage, junk, muck, muckiness, nastiness, refuse, rubbish, scrap, trash, trash rubbish), smooirlagh (bits, fragment), orch (clutter, leaving of fodder, refuse, trash, trash rubbish, wastage). (various references)

Pig Latin

ebrisday.(various references)

Portuguese

restos (garbage, leavings, lees, offscourings, pickings, refuse, rejectamenta, reliquiae, remains, remnant, residue, residuum, scraps, survival, waste), detritos (hand-barrow, rubbish). (various references)

Romanian

detritus (detritus), dãrâmãturã (brushwood, ruins), rãmãşiţe (leavings, odd-come-shorts, odds and ends, remains, riff raff, tailings), moloz (rubbish, rubble), epavã (shipwreck, wreck). (various references)

Russian 

развалины (carcass, detritus, rubble, ruins), обломки пород, обломок (chip, detritus, fragment, mammock, shatter, splinter, stub, stump). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

debris, ruševine (wreckage). (various references)

Spanish

detrito (clippings, cuttings, detritus, parings, refuse, remainder, rest, rubbish, rubble, waste, windfall), ruinas (ruins, shambles), escombros (brash, rubble), desechos (clippings, cuttings, parings, refuse, rejectamenta, remainder, rest, rubbish, rubble, waste, windfall). (various references)

Swedish

spillror (Flinders, flotsam and jetsam, rubble, splinters, wreckage). (various references)

Turkish

döküntü (detritus, dilapidated, dreg, excuse, fall out, fallout, heap, junk, litter, refuse, residuum, rubbish, rubble, scrap, skin eruption, spoils, sweeps, tot, waste), yıkıntı (ruin, shambles, wrack, wreck, wreckage, wrecks), kırıntı (bit, chip, crumb, fragment, ort, piece, scrap, scraps, sweeps), enkaz (carcase, carcass, rubbish, salvage, wrack, wreck, wreckage), atıklar. (various references)

Ukrainian

уламки (detritus, wreck, wreckage), руїни (demolition, remains, ruins), осколки (detritus, smithereens), обрізки заліза, будівельне сміття, брухт (junk). (various references)

Vietnamese 

mảnh vụn vôi gạch đổ nát, mảnh vỡ. (various references)

Welsh

mwnws (dust, small particles), malurion (fragments), llutrod (ashes, mire). (various references)

briser. (various references)

debriser. (various references)

Misspellings

"Debris" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Dabrs, darbys, debb'io, debis, debrecan, debree, Debreu, debrey, debri, debrid, debrie, debries, debrit, Debrum, debry, Delbruck, denberies, Derbi, derbish, deris, derzis, detris, devries, dibry, digris, Djeric, dobcross, dobras, Dobres, dobros, dubis, Ebbrix, Ebiris, ebris, Ednbro, febris, Tabrizi. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: biders, brides, rebids.

-1 letter: bider, bides, biers, birds, birse, bride, bries, dribs, dries, rebid, resid, ribes, rides, sired.

-2 letters: beds, bide, bids, bier, bird, bise, bred, brie, bris, debs, dibs, dies, dire, drib, ides, ired, ires, rebs, reds, reis, ribs, ride, rids, rise, side, sire.

-3 letters: bed, bid, bis, deb, dib, die, dis, eds, ers, ids, ire.

+1 letter: abiders, begirds, bestrid, bidders, binders, birders, birdies, bistred, borides, braised, bridges, bridles, brisked, bruised, burdies, darbies, derbies, dibbers, disrobe, inbreds, rebinds, scribed, seabird, sidebar, verbids.

+2 letters: abridges, ascribed, bawdries, bedrails, bestride, birdseed, birdseye, bistered, blinders, braiders, brandies, bridlers, brigades, brindles, bristled, broiders, bromides, builders, carbides, curbside, daubries, debrides, debriefs, debruise, deorbits, describe, dibblers, disburse, disrobed, disrober, disrobes, dribbles, driblets, inbreeds, overbids, prebinds, rebodies, rebuilds, redbaits, redbirds, seabirds, sidebars, subsider, tribades.