refuse
City officials refuse refuse permits for out-of-town waste.
The sentence describes city officials declining to issue garbage permits for waste from outside the area.
Meanings
to decline to accept or do something
- She refused the bribe.
- The committee refused our application.
matter discarded as worthless; garbage, waste
- Refuse collection happens twice a week.
- The lot was filled with industrial refuse.
Word origin
From Old French refuser, from Vulgar Latin *refūsāre, possibly a blend of Latin recūsāre ('to refuse') and refūtāre ('to refute'). The verb-noun voicing alternation /z/-vs-/s/ is the same fossil pattern visible in 'use', 'abuse', 'house', and 'advise/advice'. Etymologically interesting: the noun /ˈrɛfjuːs/ ('garbage') and the verb /rɪˈfjuːz/ ('to decline') are linked — refuse is what has been refused, i.e., rejected as worthless.
Fun fact
The noun 'refuse' (garbage) and the verb 'to refuse' (decline) are tightly connected etymologically — refuse is literally what has been refused, i.e., rejected. The same logic shows up in 'reject' (the verb) and 'reject' (the noun, a discarded item). English regularly turns rejected things into nouns named after the rejection itself.