dumping ground

English

Noun

dumping ground (plural dumping grounds)

1. A landfill.
2. (figurative) Any place where unwanted items are sent.
   • 2015, Alison Matthews David, Fashion Victims: The Damages of Dress Past and Present, →ISBN, page 210:

     The Indian representative of a global trade union called IndustriALL warned that other clothes and accessories shipped overseas might also be radioactive because India has become a "dumping ground" for the West's hazardous waste.

   • 2021 June 16, “Network News: Boost for Stanton Gate revival”, in RAIL, number 933, page 14:

     Around 25 years ago, it was used as a dumping ground for Toton locomotives destined for scrapyards.

3. (taxonomy) A presumably polyphyletic supraspecific taxon where species of unclear affinities are placed.

   Synonym: wastebasket taxon

   • 2008 December, Mark W. Chase et al., “Taxonomic transfers in Oncidiinae to accord with Genera Orchidacearum, Vol. 5”, in Lindleyana:

     Several genera, e.g. Miltonia Lindl., Odontoglossum Kunth and Oncidium Sw., have historically been viewed as taxa of convenience and thus became dumping grounds for species of unclear relationships.