Ditch
[dɪtʃ]
Definition
(noun.) a long narrow excavation in the earth.
(noun.) any small natural waterway.
(verb.) crash or crash-land; 'ditch a car'; 'ditch a plane'.
(verb.) make an emergency landing on water.
(verb.) forsake; 'ditch a lover'.
Checked by Jocelyn--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A trench made in the earth by digging, particularly a trench for draining wet land, for guarding or fencing inclosures, or for preventing an approach to a town or fortress. In the latter sense, it is called also a moat or a fosse.
(n.) Any long, narrow receptacle for water on the surface of the earth.
(v. t.) To dig a ditch or ditches in; to drain by a ditch or ditches; as, to ditch moist land.
(v. t.) To surround with a ditch.
(v. t.) To throw into a ditch; as, the engine was ditched and turned on its side.
(v. i.) To dig a ditch or ditches.
Inputed by Evelyn
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Trench.[2]. Rivulet, brook.
Checker: Selma
Definition
n. a trench dug in the ground: any long narrow receptacle for water.—v.i. to make a ditch or ditches.—v.t. to dig a ditch in or around: to drain by ditches.—ns. Ditch′-dog (Shak.) a dead dog rotting in a ditch; Ditch′er a ditch-maker.
Edited by Eileen
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of falling in a ditch, denotes degradation and personal loss; but if you jump over it, you will live down any suspicion of wrong-doing.
Editor: Nicolas
Examples
- I was born in a ditch, and my mother ran away from me. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- So far I had seen no one and I sat down by some bushes along the bank of the ditch and took off my shoes and emptied them of water. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Select a dry, shady spot; dig a ditch for carrying off the waste water, and over it place a lath-work. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- At that point, however, as it happens, there is a broadish ditch, moist at the bottom. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- The fat Dissenter who had given out the hymn was left sitting in the ditch. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- He is as sweet as honey, and I am as dull as ditch-water. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- An average size ocean liner pays about $5,000 for the privilege of sailing through this great ditch. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- There were villas with iron fences and big overgrown gardens and ditches with water flowing and green vegetable gardens with dust on the leaves. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- These ditches, however, were not over eight or ten feet in width. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- It appeared to be a collection of back lanes, ditches, and little gardens, and to present the aspect of a rather dull retirement. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- This took us over several ditches breast deep in water and grown up with water plants. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Let him be prepared to be assailed by the odours of undrained gutters, ditches, and roads called streets, and escape, if he can, stumbling and falling into them. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- In the meantime workmen had been busy digging ditches and laying mains through the district that Edison intended to light. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- We could look across the plain and see farmhouses and the rich green farms with their irrigation ditches and the mountains to the north. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
Typed by Ina