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 ]

p. pr. & vb. n. of Scavenge. Hence, n. (Internal-combustion Engines) Act or process of expelling the exhaust gases from the cylinder by some special means, as, in many four-cycle engines, by utilizing the momentum of the exhaust gases in a long exhaust pipe. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]