empty

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Containing nothing or no one

   She poured the last drink and put down the empty glass.

2. 2
   adj

   Having no real meaning, value, or sincerity

   His apology felt like empty words.

3. 3
   adj

   Feeling sad and without purpose or emotion

   After the argument, she felt completely empty.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Empty comes from Old English æmetta, meaning “leisure.” In Anglo-Saxon times it could mean “at leisure,” “unoccupied,” or “unmarried,” as well as “not filled.”

From Middle English emty, amty, from Old English ǣmtiġ, ǣmettiġ (“vacant, empty, free, idle, unmarried”, literally “without must or obligation, leisurely”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”) + Proto-Germanic *mōtijô, *mōtô (“must, obligation, need”), *mōtiþô (“ability, accommodation”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“measure; to acquire, possess, be in command”). Related to Old English ġeǣmtigian (“to empty”), ǣmetta (“leisure”), mōtan (“can, to be allowed”). More at mote, meet. The interconsonantal excrescent p is a euphonic insertion dating from Middle English.

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External links

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