Python: How to check if a nested list is essentially empty?

Question

Is there a Pythonic way to check if a list (a nested list with elements & lists) is essentially empty? What I mean by

Answer 1

Simple code, works for any iterable object, not just lists:

>>> def empty(seq):
...     try:
...         return all(map(empty, seq))
...     except TypeError:
...         return False
...
>>> empty([])
True
>>> empty([4])
False
>>> empty([[]])
True
>>> empty([[], []])
True
>>> empty([[], [8]])
False
>>> empty([[], (False for _ in range(0))])
True
>>> empty([[], (False for _ in range(1))])
False
>>> empty([[], (True for _ in range(1))])
False

This code makes the assumption that anything that can be iterated over will contain other elements, and should not be considered a leaf in the "tree". If an attempt to iterate over an object fails, then it is not a sequence, and hence certainly not an empty sequence (thus False is returned). Finally, this code makes use of the fact that all returns True if its argument is an empty sequence.