Meanings
plural dustbins · alternative dust bin · alternative dust-bin
- CommonwealthIrelandA bin for holding rubbish until it can be collected; a garbage can.
1 more example
Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLCSynonyms: ashcan, dumpster, garbage can, garbage pail, rubbish bin, trash can, wastebin, wastepaper basket
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA bin for holding rubbish until it can be collected; a garbage can.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna bin that holds rubbish until it is collected
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From dust + bin, as used for disposing of dust (originally ash from domestic fires) and other rubbish.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
dustbin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dustbin
“dustbin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dustbin. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dustbin,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dustbin.
Source: dustbin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.