From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishldoce_746_zrubbishrub‧bish1 /ˈrʌbɪʃ/ ●●● S2 noun [uncountable] especially British English 1 RUBBISH/WASTEfood, paper etc that is no longer needed and has been thrown away SYN garbage, trash American English a rubbish bin household rubbishrubbish tip/dump (=a place to take rubbish)2 informalRUBBISH/WASTE objects, papers etc that you no longer use and should throw away I’ve got so much rubbish on my desk it’s unbelievable.3 informalUNTRUE an idea, statement etc that is rubbish is silly or wrong and does not deserve serious attention SYN nonsense, garbage American English You do talk rubbish sometimes. That’s a load of rubbish. The suggestion is absolute rubbish.rubbish! spoken (=used to tell someone that what they have just said is completely wrong)4 informalABAD a film, book etc that is rubbish is very bad the usual Hollywood rubbishTHESAURUSrubbish especially British English things that people throw away, such as old food, dirty paper etcPeople are being encouraged to recycle their household rubbish.the rubbish bingarbage/trash American English rubbishThe garbage is collected every Tuesday.There were piles of trash in the backyard.a black plastic garbage bagrefuse formal rubbishThe strike has disrupted refuse collection.It’s a site which is used for domestic refuse.litter empty bottles, pieces of paper etc that people have dropped on the groundParents should teach children not to drop litter.There was a lot of litter on the beach.waste rubbish, or materials that need to be dealt with after they have been used in industrial processesnuclear wastetoxic wastehousehold wasteThe company was fined for dumping toxic waste in the sea.
Examples from the Corpus
rubbish• I rescued this table from a rubbish dump.• Two stolen paintings have been found dumped in a rubbish bin.• Disposal of our domestic rubbish is something we tend to forget about once it's been picked up by the dust-cart.• Is the roof space clean and clear of rubbish?• It's a load of rubbish.• The majors were quite polite and everything, it wasn't like they were saying it was a load of rubbish.• I don't know why you're watching that film, it's a load of old rubbish.• But many places hate importing other people's rubbish.• The dustmen collect the rubbish on Wednesdays.• Then nine tenths of the rubbish they've been printing for the last few weeks will be seen for what it is.• Don't forget to put the rubbish out before you go to bed.• If you believe all this rubbish, you'll believe anything.• The most ubiquitous evidence was the piles of fly-tipped rubbish whenever we stopped to look for birds or flowers.• "What did you think of his speech?'' "I thought it was rubbish!''• There was rubbish and broken glass all over the grass.rubbish tip/dump• Rubbish raid: Thieves broke into a rubbish dump near Ripon.• But over the past century we have made it into a rubbish dump.• During those sixty seconds of biological time, Modern Man has made a rubbish tip of Paradise.• They've agreed to postpone development of a rubbish dump for at least 10 years.• They searched for the money-filled teddy bear and were told it had been tossed on to a rubbish dump.• Trashing lives At night on the city rubbish tip in La Paz, strange things start to happen.• Here there was a natural beach, bordered by a thin band of scrub: beyond it was the council rubbish dump.• The device is being used at landfill rubbish tips and can tell scientists within minutes precisely what's going on underground.absolute rubbish• All those stories about Sandra being mistaken for Lady Lucan are absolute rubbish as far as I am concerned.rubbishrubbish2 verb [transitive] British EnglishBAD to say something is bad or useless→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
rubbish• The government will be claiming that its reform of legal aid was a triumph for justice and any dissent will be rubbished.• I've done my share of rubbishing believe me!• It is time we began to ask who are these women who rubbish men.• On the higher literary level it rubbished quite a bit of Hardy and much of D.H.Lawrence.• He did so by rubbishing the only viable goal of any Liberal Democrat election campaign - a hung parliament.rubbishrubbish3 adjective British English informal BADnot skilful at a particular activity a rubbish teamOrigin rubbish (1300-1400) Anglo-French rubbous, perhaps from Old French robe; → ROBE 