empty

adj

1. Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.

   “an empty purse”

   “an empty jug”

   “an empty stomach”

   “[…] something in the little man's appearance suggested that he would be sufficiently attentive to his own comfort to choose the emptiest table.”

   “[…] San Sebastian Church was desolate in the courtyard; emptier, lonelier inside with its pews stretched out like fallen pylons varnished by dolorous residue. From each candlelit nook stared in stony despair one after another saint, regal and rueful: proffering forgiveness, peace, a todo.”

2. Containing no elements (as of a string, array, or set), opposed to being null (having no valid value).
3. (obsolete)Free; clear; devoid; often with of.

   “And I ſhal finde you emptie of that fault, Right ioyfull of your reformation.”

   “For that fair femal Troop thou sawst, that seemd Of Goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay, Yet empty of all good wherein consists Womans domestic honour and chief praise;”

4. Having nothing to carry, emptyhanded; unburdened.

   “I hope our Ladies treaſure and our owne, May ſerue for ranſome to our liberties: Returne our Mules and emptie Camels backe, That we may trauell into Siria, […]”

   “I hope it remaines not vnkindly with your Lordſhip, that I return'd you an empty Meſſenger.”

   “And I will giue this people fauour in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come to passe that when ye goe, ye shall not goe empty:”

5. Destitute of effect, sincerity, or sense; said of language.

   “empty words, or threats”

   “empty offer”

   “empty promises”

   “[…] words are but empty thanks; my future conduct best will speak my gratitude.”

6. Unable to satisfy; hollow; vain.

   “empty pleasures”

   “Ev'n I more sweetly pass my careless days, Pleas'd in the silent shade with empty praise;”

7. Destitute of reality, or real existence; unsubstantial.

   “empty dreams”

8. Destitute of, or lacking, sense, knowledge, or courtesy.

   “empty brains”

   “an empty coxcomb”

   “Art thou thus bolden'd man by thy diſtres? Or elſe a rude deſpiſer of good manners, That in ciuility thou ſeem'ſt ſo emptie?”

9. Not pregnant; not producing offspring when expected to do so during the breeding season.

   “Empty cow rates have increased in recent years.”

10. (obsolete)Producing nothing; unfruitful.

    “an empty vine”

    “[…] and the seuen emptie eares blasted with the East wind[…]”

11. Hungry.
12. Lacking between the onset of tasting and the finish.

    “Grotesquely vegetal, excessively oaked, empty wines were routinely produced in the mid-1980s. Since the late 1980s, however, the quality has soared.”

verb

1. (ergative, transitive)To make empty; to remove the contents of.

   “to empty a well or a cistern”

   “The cinema emptied quickly after the end of the film.”

   “The suspected thief was requested to empty her pockets.”

   “If the clouds be full of raine, they emptie themselues vpon the earth[…]”

   “He saddens, all the magic light ⁠Dies off at once from bower and hall, ⁠And all the place is dark, and all The chambers emptied of delight: […]”

2. (intransitive)Of a river, duct, etc: to drain or flow toward an ultimate destination.

   “Salmon River empties on the W shore about 2 miles below Bear River.”

   “Of these the Rhine empties into the Northern ocean and the Danube into the Euxine.”

noun

1. (in-plural)A container, especially a bottle, whose contents have been used up, leaving it empty.

   “Put the empties out to be recycled.”

   “The east-west flow consists in the westerly direction of the agricultural and industrial products of East Anglia; imports through London and Parkeston (Harwich); special traffic in coke to the Northamptonshire ironfield; and mineral empties returning to the Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and South Yorkshire coalfields.”

   “A shaft runround was made to conduct the empties from the tippler to the empty side of the shaft where they would rejoin the old circuit.”

   “In 1960 Willem de Kooning said of [Leo] Castelli, ‘That son of a bitch, you could give him two beer cans and he could sell them.’ [Jasper] Johns laughed and created a sculpture of two Ballantine Ale empties. Castelli immediately sold the work to collectors Robert and Ethel Scull.”

   “A number of locomotives have been drafted into the area to cover the traction shortfall, including two Class 60s: here No 60039 accelerates away from Eastleigh on the Chandlers Ford branch with the lunchtime Fareham to Whatley quarry empties [empty wagons] on 20 August 2019.”