Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Dirt?

\Dirt\, n. [OE. drit; kin to Icel. drit excrement, dr[=i]ta to dung, OD. drijten to dung, AS. gedr[=i]tan.] 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. --Is. lvii. 20. 2. Meanness; sordidness. Honors . . . thrown away upon dirt and infamy. --Melmoth. 3. In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing. {Dirt bed} (Geom.), a layer of clayey earth forming a stratum in a geological formation. Dirt beds are common among the coal measures. {Dirt eating}. (a) The use of certain kinds of clay for food, existing among some tribes of Indians; geophagism. --Humboldt. (b) (Med.) 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\, v. t. To make foul of filthy; to dirty. --Swift.