Dirt
Dirt (dẽrt) , noun
[Old English drit; kin to Icelandic drit excrement, drīta to dung, OD. drijten to dung, Anglo-Saxon gedrītan.]
1.
Any foul of filthy substance, as excrement, mud, dust, etc.; whatever, adhering to anything, renders it foul or unclean; earth; as, a wagonload of dirt.
Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
2.
Meanness; sordidness.
Honors... thrown away upon dirt and infamy.
3.
In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing.
Collocations (4)
Dirt bed (Geometry) , a layer of clayey earth forming a stratum in a geological formation. Dirt beds are common among the coal measures.
Dirt eating (Medicine) , (a) The use of certain kinds of clay for food, existing among some tribes of Indians; geophagism. — Humboldt Same as Chthonophagia.
Dirt pie , clay or mud molded by children in imitation of pastry. — Otway (1684)
To eat dirt , to submit in a meanly humble manner to insults; to eat humble pie.
Dirt , transitive verb
To make foul of filthy; to dirty. — Swift