garbage-collector

plural garbage-collectors

1. alternativeAlternative form of garbage collector.

   The initials of a writer’s real name form an initialism, and a sarcastic signature is an ironym. ‘Patiently Awaiting’ signed to a complaint against the garbage-collectors is an ironym.

   1887 October 23, “Why Sign Only Demonyms? The Inquiry of a Man Who Says John P. St. John Has an Autohieroascetohagionym”, in Los Angeles Daily Herald, volume XXIX, number 21, Los Angeles, Calif., page 15, column 1

   2 more examples

   She had no sooner done so than she was woken by an uproar in the street – a familiar racket which happened every day at this time. Zennoub recognised the noise of the garbage-collectors and the roar of their truck.

   1976, Tawfiq Yusuf Awwad, translated by Leslie McLoughlin, Death in Beirut (Arab Authors; 5), London: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, published 1980, →ISBN, page 56

   Why wouldn’t populist jealousy be directed against bankers or CEOs, whose gluttony dwarfs the salaries and perks of any unionized workers? After all, Canada’s big six banks alone paid out a record $9-billion in bonuses last year, while other Canadians struggled to make ends meet. Strangely instead, it’s the humble garbage-collector on the receiving end of the vitriol.

   2011 April 9, Ken Lewenza, “Counterpoint: Fury of poor would erupt without unions”, in National Post, volume 13, number 138, Toronto, Ont., page FP19, column 1