Definitions for ditch
dɪtʃditch

Princeton's WordNet(1.57 / 7 votes)Rate this definition:

1. ditchnoun

   a long narrow excavation in the earth

2. ditchverb

   any small natural waterway

3. ditchverb

   forsake

   "ditch a lover"

4. chuck, ditchverb

   throw away

   "Chuck these old notes"

5. dump, ditchverb

   sever all ties with, usually unceremoniously or irresponsibly

   "The company dumped him after many years of service"; "She dumped her boyfriend when she fell in love with a rich man"

6. ditchverb

   make an emergency landing on water

7. ditchverb

   crash or crash-land

   "ditch a car"; "ditch a plane"

8. trench, ditchverb

   cut a trench in, as for drainage

   "ditch the land to drain it"; "trench the fields"

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. DITCHnoun

   Etymology: dic, Saxon; diik, Erse.

   1. A trench cut in the ground usually between fields.

   Some asked for manors, others for acres that lay convenient for them; that he would pull down his fences, and level his ditches. John Arbuthnot, History of John Bull.

   Sudden the ditches swell, the meadows swim. James Thomson.

   2. Any long narrow receptacle of water: used sometimes of a small river in contempt.

   In the great plagues there were seen, in divers ditches and low grounds about London, many toads that had tails three inches long. Francis Bacon.

   3. The moat with which a town is surrounded.

   The ditches, such as they were, were altogether dry, and easy to be passed over. Richard Knolles, History of the Turks.

   4. Ditch is used, in composition, of any thing worthless, or thrown away into ditches.

   Poor Tom, when the foul fiend rages, eats cowdung for sallets, swallows the old rat, and the ditch-dog. William Shakespeare.

2. To Ditchverb

   To make a ditch.

   Etymology: from the noun.

   I have employed my time, besides ditching, in finishing my travels. Jonathan Swift.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Ditchnoun

   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

2. Ditchnoun

   any long, narrow receptacle for water on the surface of the earth

3. Ditchverb

   to dig a ditch or ditches in; to drain by a ditch or ditches; as, to ditch moist land

4. Ditchverb

   to surround with a ditch

5. Ditchverb

   to throw into a ditch; as, the engine was ditched and turned on its side

6. Ditchverb

   to dig a ditch or ditches

7. Etymology: [OE. dich, orig. the same word as dik. See Dike.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Ditch

   A ditch is usually defined as a small to moderate depression created to channel water. In Anglo-Saxon, the word dïc already existed and was pronounced "deek" in northern England and "deetch" in the south. The origins of the word lie in digging a trench and forming the upcast soil into a bank alongside it. This practice has meant that the name dïc was given to either the excavation or the bank, and evolved to both the words "dike"/"dyke" and "ditch". Thus Offa's Dyke is a combined structure and Car Dyke is a trench, though it once had raised banks as well. In the midlands and north of England, and in the United States, a dike is what a ditch is in the south, a property boundary marker or small drainage channel. Where it carries a stream, it may be called a running dike as in Rippingale Running Dike, which leads water from the catchwater drain, Car Dyke, to the South Forty Foot Drain in Lincolnshire. The Weir Dike is a soak dike in Bourne North Fen, near Twenty and alongside the River Glen. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. A trench is a long narrow ditch. Ditches are commonly seen around farmland especially in areas that have required drainage, such as The Fens in eastern England and the Netherlands.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Ditch

   dich, 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. [A corr. of dike.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. ditch

   In fortification the excavation in front of the parapet of any work, ranging in width from a few feet in field fortification to thirty or forty yards in permanent works, having its steep side next the rampart called the escarp: the opposite one is the counterscarp. Its principal use is to secure the escarp as long as possible. There are wet ditches and dry ones, the former being less in favour than the latter, since a dry ditch so much facilitates sorties, counter-approaches, and the like. That kind which may be made wet or dry at pleasure is most useful.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. ditch

   In fortification, is an excavation made round the works, from which the earth required for the construction of the rampart and parapet is obtained. Ditches are of two kinds, wet and dry; but in modern fortification the dry ditch is considered preferable to the wet one. When the excavation is on the side farthest from the enemy it is called a trench.

Matched Categories

1. • Abandon
   • Aviation
   • Crash
   • Crash Land
   • Dig
   • Excavation
   • Get Rid Of

How to pronounce ditch?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say ditch in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of ditch in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of ditch in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of ditch in a Sentence

1. Edna Ferber:

   Only amateurs say that they write for their own amusement. Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain-climbing, treadmill and childbirth... But amusing Never.

2. Lindsey Graham:

   I think it was inappropriate, I think if there is a tape we need to know about it. I don't think we can dodge that issue. I want to get back to doing the business of the country. North Korea is developing a missile that can hit the American homeland, i want to help the President where I can, but tweets like North Korea take us off in a ditch.

3. Shankar Lal Saini:

   There was a tower there. When the lightning struck, the tower's wall collapsed, many people were buried under it. Since the fort is on a hill, when the debris was falling and space reduced, some people also fell into a ditch.

4. Irwin Redlener:

   National Institutes of Health also has a very sizable health service for people who have not been successfully treated with conventional modalities and are on research protocols, often as a last ditch effort to be cured -- and that's obviously very meaningful.

5. Irwin Redlener:

   I don't think we're going to see much in terms of impact of the research component here because grants that have already been made won't be affected. But evaluation of new research proposals may be delayed during the shutdown, though I'm not sure how consequential that is, national Institutes of Health also has a very sizable health service for people who have not been successfully treated with conventional modalities and are on research protocols, often as a last ditch effort to be cured -- and that's obviously very meaningful.

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