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ditch
[ dich ]
noun
- a long, narrow excavation made in the ground by digging, as for draining or irrigating land; trench.
- any open passage or trench, as a natural channel or waterway.
verb (used with object)
- to dig a ditch or ditches in or around.
- to derail (a train) or drive or force (an automobile, bus, etc.) into a ditch.
- to crash-land on water and abandon (an airplane).
- Slang.
- to get rid of:
I ditched that old hat of yours.
- to escape from:
He ditched the cops by driving down an alley.
- to absent oneself from (school or a class) without permission or an acceptable reason.
verb (used without object)
- to dig a ditch.
- (of an aircraft or its crew) to crash-land in water and abandon the sinking aircraft.
- Slang. to be truant; play hooky.
Ditch
1/ dɪtʃ /
noun
- the Ditchthe Ditch an informal name for the Tasman Sea
ditch
2/ dɪtʃ /
noun
- a narrow channel dug in the earth, usually used for drainage, irrigation, or as a boundary marker
- any small, natural waterway
- a bank made of earth excavated from and placed alongside a drain or stream
- informal.either of the gutters at the side of a tenpin bowling lane
- last ditchlast ditch a last resort or place of last defence
verb
- to make a ditch or ditches in (a piece of ground)
- intr to edge with a ditch
- informal.to crash or be crashed, esp deliberately, as to avoid more unpleasant circumstances
he had to ditch the car
- slang.tr to abandon or discard
to ditch a girlfriend
- informal.to land (an aircraft) on water in an emergency
- slang.tr to evade
to ditch the police
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Derived Forms
- ˈditcher, noun
- ˈditchless, adjective
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Other Words From
- ditchless adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of ditch1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of ditch1
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Idioms and Phrases
see last-ditch effort .Discover More
Example Sentences
Who knew explaining how to change a tire and back out of a ditch could be so seductive?
Worries about a last ditch Nazi stand in the Alps had mounted appreciably over the final year of the war.
It also made sense for Sorenson to ditch Bachmann for entirely political reasons.
Outside the lodge, running along its perimeter, was a small ditch lined by posts topped by a chest-high wooden beam.
Fonda tried in vain to convince Jarrow and Archer to ditch the project.
It was encircled by a ditch, but the drawbridge was down, and the rust on its chains argued that long had it been so.
"Mother would be awfully cross if you walked through that ditch," says Judy, continuing a conversation.
He gripped Shiv's shoulder convulsively, nearly sending his own car into the ditch by so doing.
We cut over the fields at the back with him between usstraight as the crow fliesthrough hedge and ditch.
Then I ditch from the lake, and I am the proud owner of a large tract of valuable irrigated land.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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