dirt
/dəːt
/noun [mass noun]
1A substance, such as mud or dust, that soils someone or something: Jo wiped the dirt off her face...
- And these items are all covered in dust and dirt from the construction, and now sit on my windowsill.
- I was fully dressed, my pants stained brown with dirt and dust.
- The use of polythene cover protects it from wear and tear, dirt and dust, moisture and stains etc., and also avoids too much folding of the pages.
Synonyms
grime, dust, soot, smut;
muck, mud, filth, mire, sludge, slime, ooze, dross, scum, pollution, waste;
smudges, stains
informal crud, yuck, grot, gunge, grunge
1.1Soil or earth: Michael threw a handful of dirt on to the coffin [as modifier]: a dirt road...
- The dirt road down to the river passed by some clay banks.
- There's this dirt road that is in almost every dream I have.
- The 108-mile dirt road from Buchanan to Greenville has been upgraded to a four-lane highway allowing logging to continue every day of the year.
Synonyms
earth, soil, loam, clay, silt;
turf, clod, sod;
ground
1.2 informal Excrement: a lawn covered in dog dirt...
- And broken vodka bottles, condoms, dog dirt and human excrement have turned the area into a menacing health hazard.
- As well as the majority of streetlights not working, it is still deeply unpleasant due mainly to being overgrown, as well as being persistently covered with litter and dog dirt.
- There are scenes with me cleaning up dog dirt in my glittering boots!
Synonyms
excrement, excreta, droppings, faeces, dung, manure, ordure;
muck, mess
informal poo
North American informal poop
vulgar slang crap, shit
1.3A state or quality of uncleanliness: the sweat and dirt of industry...
- The very name Grimethorpe conjures up an picture of dirt, decay and desolation.
- He also shows the underbelly of the city: its violence, flesh for hire, and atmosphere of poverty, dirt, and decay.
- What point is there in spending a fortune in promoting Scotland as a country to visit and to do business in when the first impression is one of third-world dirt and squalor.
2 informal Information about someone’s activities or private life that could prove damaging if revealed: is there any dirt on Desmond?...
- Readers need some information quickly - dirt on candidates before Election Day, for instance.
- As you sidle up close you can hear voices swapping art world gossip, platitudes and dirt on various celebs, institutions and artists.
- Truth is that some news agencies can't wait to get dirt on the military so they can embarrass the Bush administration.
Synonyms
scandal, gossip, talk, revelations, rumour(s), tittle-tattle, tattle;
slander, libel, calumny;
smears
informal low-down, gen, dope
North American informal poop
Phrases
do someone dirt (also do dirt to)
drag the name of someone/thing through the dirt
eat dirt
treat someone like dirt
Origin
Middle English: from Old Norse drit 'excrement', an early sense in English.
The origin of dirt is old Scandinavian drit ‘excrement’. In its earliest uses the English word retained both the meaning and the form, but gradually dirt superseded drit. Its history parallels that of bird (earlier brid). By the time dirty appeared, in the later Middle Ages, dirt appears to have been the only form in use. The sense ‘obscene, pornographic, smutty’ dates from the 16th century, though most familiar phrases such as dirty joke and dirty weekend are first recorded in the 20th.