ort n
ort n Pronc-sp ought chiefly
NEng A leftover
(esp of food), scrap; refuse, offal, trash.1828
(1970) Webster Amer. Dict. , Ort. . . A fragment; refuse.
1900 Day Up in ME 102, He got the orts of the fish we
caught. 1909 DN 3.414 nME, Orts.
. . The leavings of cattle in their manger. 1914
DN 4.77 ME, nNH, Orts. . . Guts of a
fish. Entrails of animals. 1927 AmSp 3.139 ME
coast, “Orts,” . . is archaic for refuse. 1941
LANE Map 346 (Rubbish), [Orts is recorded from 33
infs, esp nNEng, usually either in the sense “leavings from the
table, garbage” or “scraps of hay left by cattle (or by sheep . . ).” One
inf applies the word to scraps of paper, and one says it also means “manure.”]
1947 Hench Coll. , [He] has friends or relatives in
Northeastern Penna. and in spots eastward to the Hudson River. He hears them
say: “Take this ought and throw it out.” “Put these peelings in the ought can.”
1950 Moore Candlemas Bay 200 ME,
“Take the orts out to the hens, Neal,” Jen said. . . He picked up the
refuse dish and started for the barn. 1959 VT Hist.
27.151, Orts. . . Coarse hay or straw butts which the cattle do
not eat. Common. 1966–70 DARE (Qu. H71, . .
The last piece of food left on a plate) Inf ME1,
Orts—table scraps; TX1, Leavings, ort; TX35,
Ort [ɝt]; VA66, Ort; (Qu. F24, The container for kitchen
parings and scraps—inside the kitchen) Inf MA40, Orts
bag—old-fashioned. 1966 DARE FW Addit
ME15, Orts—word always(?) used for garbage near Friendship and
Long Island, Maine. 1973 Allen LAUM 1.198
MN (as of c1950), One Minnesota respondent [to a written
checklist], of Scottish and Canadian parentage, checked ort pail, which
in the eastern atlas study appeared only in Essex county, Massachusetts.
1986 Pederson LAGS Concordance (Comprehensive
term for edible “insides” of a pig or calf) 1 inf, cAL,
Orts and offal—words I've learned; 1 inf, ceTX, Orts—all edible
organs collectively.