v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Avenged (&unr_;); p. pr. & vb. n. Avenging (&unr_;). ] [ OF. avengier; L. ad + vindicare to lay claim to, to avenge, revenge. See Vengeance. ] 1. To take vengeance for; to exact satisfaction for by punishing the injuring party; to vindicate by inflicting pain or evil on a wrongdoer. [ 1913 Webster ]

He will avenge the blood of his servants. Deut. xxxii. 43. [ 1913 Webster ]

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

He had avenged himself on them by havoc such as England had never before seen. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To treat revengefully; to wreak vengeance on. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy judgment in avenging thine enemies. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To Avenge, Revenge. To avenge is to inflict punishment upon evil doers in behalf of ourselves, or others for whom we act; as, to avenge one's wrongs; to avenge the injuries of the suffering and innocent. It is to inflict pain for the sake of vindication, or retributive justice. To revenge is to inflict pain or injury for the indulgence of resentful and malicious feelings. The former may at times be a duty; the latter is one of the worst exhibitions of human character. [ 1913 Webster ]

I avenge myself upon another, or I avenge another, or I avenge a wrong. I revenge only myself, and that upon another. C. J. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To take vengeance. Levit. xix. 18. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Vengeance; revenge. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Vengeance. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Vengeful. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The inflicting of retributive punishment; satisfaction taken. [ R. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who avenges or vindicates; as, an avenger of blood. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who takes vengeance. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A female avenger. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To cleanse, as streets, from filth. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. to salvage (usable items or material) from discarded or waste material. [ PJC ]

3. To remove (burned gases) from the cylinder after a working stroke. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. i. (Internal-combustion Engines) To remove the burned gases from the cylinder after a working stroke; as, this engine does not scavenge well. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ OE. scavager an officer with various duties, originally attending to scavage, fr. OE. & E. scavage. See Scavage, Show, v. ] A person whose employment is to clean the streets of a city, by scraping or sweeping, and carrying off the filth. The name is also applied to any animal which devours refuse, carrion, or anything injurious to health. [ 1913 Webster ]

Scavenger beetle (Zool.), any beetle which feeds on decaying substances, as the carrion beetle. --
Scavenger crab (Zool.), any crab which feeds on dead animals, as the spider crab. --
Scavenger's daughter [ corrupt. of Skevington's daughter ], an instrument of torture invented by Sir W. Skevington, which so compressed the body as to force the blood to flow from the nostrils, and sometimes from the hands and feet. Am. Cyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a game in which individuals or teams are given a list of items and must go out, gather them together without purchasing them, and bring them back; the first person or team to return with the complete list is the winner. The items are sometimes common but often of a humorous sort. [ PJC ]