Emptying

[emp-tee] /ˈɛmp ti/

adjective, emptier, emptiest.
1.
containing nothing; having none of the usual or appropriate contents:
an empty bottle.
2.
vacant; unoccupied:
an empty house.
3.
without cargo or load:
an empty wagon.
4.
destitute of people or human activity:
We walked along the empty streets of the city at night.
5.
destitute of some quality or qualities; devoid (usually followed by of):
Theirs is a life now empty of happiness.
6.
without force, effect, or significance; hollow; meaningless:
empty compliments; empty pleasures.
7.
not employed in useful activity or work; idle:
empty summer days.
8.
Mathematics. (of a set) containing no elements; null; void.
9.
hungry:
I’m feeling rather empty—let’s have lunch.
10.
without knowledge or sense; frivolous; foolish:
an empty head.
11.
completely spent of emotion:
The experience had left him with an empty heart.
verb (used with object), emptied, emptying.
12.
to make empty; deprive of contents; discharge the contents of:
to empty a bucket.
13.
to discharge (contents):
to empty the water out of a bucket.
verb (used without object), emptied, emptying.
14.
to become empty:
The room emptied rapidly after the lecture.
15.
to discharge contents, as a river:
The river empties into the sea.
noun, plural empties.
16.
Informal. something that is empty, as a box, bottle, or can:
Throw the empties into the waste bin.
/ˈɛmptɪ/
adjective -tier, -tiest
1.
containing nothing
2.
without inhabitants; vacant or unoccupied
3.
carrying no load, passengers, etc
4.
without purpose, substance, or value: an empty life
5.
insincere or trivial: empty words
6.
not expressive or vital; vacant: she has an empty look
7.
(informal) hungry
8.
(postpositive) foll by of. devoid; destitute: a life empty of happiness
9.
(informal) drained of energy or emotion: after the violent argument he felt very empty
10.
(maths, logic) (of a set or class) containing no members
11.
(philosophy, logic) (of a name or description) having no reference
verb -ties, -tying, -tied
12.
to make or become empty
13.
when intr, foll by into. to discharge (contents)
14.
(transitive) often foll by of. to unburden or rid (oneself): to empty oneself of emotion
noun (pl) -ties
15.
an empty container, esp a bottle
adj.

c.1200, from Old English æmettig “at leisure, not occupied, unmarried,” from æmetta “leisure,” from æ “not” + -metta, from motan “to have” (see might (n.)). The -p- is a euphonic insertion.

Sense evolution from “at leisure” to “empty” is paralleled in several languages, e.g. Modern Greek adeios “empty,” originally “freedom from fear,” from deios “fear.” “The adj. adeios must have been applied first to persons who enjoyed freedom from duties, leisure, and so were unoccupied, whence it was extended to objects that were unoccupied” [Buck].

The adjective also yielded a verb (1520s), replacing Middle English empten, from Old English geæmtigian. Related: Emptied; emptying. Figurative sense of empty-nester first attested 1987. Empty-handed attested from 1610s.