dirt

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See also DIRT, and Dirt

Contents

English [edit]

Dirt (soil).

Alternative forms [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Middle English drit (“excrement”), probably from Old Norse drit (“exrement”), from Proto-Germanic *dritą, *dritō (“excrement”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhreid-, *treidh- (“to have diarrhea”). Cognate with Norwegian dritt (“excrement”), Icelandic drit (“bird exrement”), Dutch drijten (“to defecate”), drits (“dirt, mud, filth”) and dreet (“excrement”), Old English ġedrītan (“to defecate”), Albanian ndyrë (“dirty, filthy”).

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

dirt (usually uncountable; plural dirts)

  1. soil or earth
  2. A stain or spot (on clothes etc); any foreign substance that worsens appearance
  3. Previously unknown negative facts (or invented "facts") about a person, gossip
    The reporter uncovered the dirt on the businessman by going undercover.

Derived terms [edit]

Terms derived from dirt

Translations [edit]

soil or earth
stain or spot (on clothes etc)
previously unknown negative information

Verb [edit]

dirt (third-person singular simple present dirts, present participle dirting, simple past and past participle dirted)

  1. (transitive, rare) To make foul or filthy; soil; befoul; dirty
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