dung
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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dungs,
present (3rd person singular)
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dunged,
past participle, past
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dunging
present participle
noun
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-
excrement, esp of animals; manure
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( as modifier )
dung cart
-
-
something filthy
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dungsimple
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dungssimple
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have dungedperfect
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has dungedperfect
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am dungingprogressive
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are dungingprogressive
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is dungingprogressive
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have been dungingperfect progressive
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has been dungingperfect progressive
Past
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dungedsimple
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had dungedperfect
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was dungingprogressive
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were dungingprogressive
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had been dungingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dung
before 1000; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Low German, German dung; compare Icelandic dyngja heap, dung, Swedish dynga dung, muck, Old High German tunga manuring
Explanation
Dung means animal droppings or waste. If you work at an elephant sanctuary, you're likely to spend a lot of time shoveling up elephant dung. Dung is a tidy word for an untidy substance — animal poop. When farmers talk about cow dung or chicken dung, they'll probably call it manure instead. Some dung causes problems, like the runoff of pig dung into lakes and rivers, while other dung is used to help fertilize vegetable gardens. Dung is an Old English word, from a Germanic root — in Old High German, a tung was an underground room that was covered with dung for warmth.
Vocabulary lists containing dung
Metaphors from Top AP English Exam Novels
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Home of the Brave
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"Death of a Naturalist" by Seamus Heaney
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The other investigated fossilized dung, known scientifically as coprolites.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
In “The Getaway”—filmed twice for the big screen—Doc and Carol McCoy conclude their escape hiding in caves, then a hut made of dung, before they end up in the infernal domain of El Rey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 2, 2026
There are reports that suggest some regions in India are witnessing a spike in timber sales, while others see increased sales of cow dung cakes - both biomass fuels.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
Every passing vehicle had to be sprayed with a chemical solution to stop the spread of the virus, which can remain up to six months in cow dung.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
There ain’t much light to see by, but the rich side of town glitters like a jewel in dung.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
When it was gone, hot not before, the Wart knew certain dungs about it—dungs which he had not had time to notice while the boar was there.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
He seldom sat down, but strayed about with nervous movements, picking dungs up and setting them down without looking at them, walking to windows and looking out but seeing nothing.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Like the guanaco of South America, the wild stallion always dungs in one particular spot, near the watering-place, so that when hunting them we always looked out for and inspected these little hillocks.
From Ranching, Sport and Travel by Thomas Carson
You know, my friends, that if we wants to get a good crop of anything we dungs the ground.
From The Parish Clerk by P. H. (Peter Hampson) Ditchfield
They show a thoroughness, a care and an art in the mixing of the various animal dungs, with straw, woodsearth and cinders, which few modern gardeners could equal.
From Roman Farm Management The Treatises of Cato and Varro by Fairfax Harrison
The soil from which he bloomed was richly dunged.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 21, 2018
As the King of Cambaya was one day riding in state, an unlucky kite dunged upon his royal head.
From The Lusiad or The Discovery of India, an Epic Poem by Luís de Camões
Asparagus haulm should also be cut and carried off the ground, and the beds dunged.
From The Present Picture of New South Wales (1811) by David Dickinson Mann
Hast thou been digg'd about and dunged too, Will neither patience nor yet dressing do?
From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03 by John Bunyan
It is fixed by oxidation at 30° to 35° C., and dunged with cow-dung and chalk.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 286, June 25, 1881 by Various
A man with expense and infinite toil, By digging and dunging, ennobled his soil; There fruits of the best your taste did invite, And uniform order still courted the sight.
From The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2 by William Ernst Browning
The exhibit consists of a Universal calender, drying machines, patent creasing, measuring, and marking machines, and apparatus for bleaching, washing, chloring, scouring, soaping, dunging, and dyeing woven fabrics.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 460, October 25, 1884 by Various
His digging about it, and dunging of it, is to show his willingness to apply gospel helps to this barren professor, if haply he may be fruitful.
From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03 by John Bunyan
And so I ought," answered Sancho; "for some of your worship's wisdom must needs stick to me; as dry and barren soil, by well dunging and digging, comes at last to bear good fruit.
From The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
In dunging corn in the holes, put two in a hill on any kind of soil where corn will grow, and you will have a good crop.
From The Stronghold A Story of Historic Northern Neck of Virginia and Its People by Miriam Haynie
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