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to dumpster dive
01
to search through trash to find usable items or food
Slang
Grammatical Information
Composition
Simple
Action verb
Regular
Present tense
dumpster dive
3rd person singular
dumpster dives
Present participle
dumpster diving
Past simple
dumpster dived
Past participle
dumpster dived
What does "to dumpster dive" mean in resource slang?
The phrase "to dumpster dive" means to search through discarded trash or dumpsters to find usable items, food, or materials. The structure is a literal compound phrase describing physically "diving" into dumpsters, extended into slang use for scavenging. It is commonly used in contexts involving reuse, poverty survival strategies, environmentalism, or finding discarded but still usable goods.
Examples
He dumpster dives behind the supermarket for discarded food.
