ditch
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.
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.
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.
Origin of ditch
1Other words from ditch
- ditchless, adjective
Words Nearby ditch
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use ditch in a sentence
A sheriff’s deputy had little trouble finding him — the man had passed out drunk in a nearby ditch with an open box of Reese’s Pieces.
How Cops Who Use Force and Even Kill Can Hide Their Names From the Public | by Kenny Jacoby, USA Today and Ryan Gabrielson, ProPublica | October 29, 2020 | ProPublicaYou are ignoring the problem here, which is last week in Pennsylvania, you had ballots found in a ditch.
Kayleigh McEnany’s first post-debate briefing goes off the rails | Aaron Blake | October 1, 2020 | Washington PostMcEnany clarified that the ballots were found in a ditch in Wisconsin.
Kayleigh McEnany’s first post-debate briefing goes off the rails | Aaron Blake | October 1, 2020 | Washington PostThe newly discovered earthwork, a 2-meter-wide ditch that forms a semicircle about 50 meters across, is similar to other circular earthworks known as council circles.
Drones find signs of a Native American ‘Great Settlement’ beneath a Kansas pasture | Bruce Bower | September 10, 2020 | Science NewsSpecially equipped drones flying over a Kansas cattle ranch have detected the buried remnants of a horseshoe-shaped ditch made more than 400 years ago by ancestors of today’s Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, scientists say.
Drones find signs of a Native American ‘Great Settlement’ beneath a Kansas pasture | Bruce Bower | September 10, 2020 | Science News
Who knew explaining how to change a tire and back out of a ditch could be so seductive?
The Golden West Up for Grabs: ‘Painted Horses’ Is the Next Great Western Novel | Wendy Smith | November 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWorries 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.
St. Martin's Summer | Rafael Sabatini"Mother would be awfully cross if you walked through that ditch," says Judy, continuing a conversation.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II | Rudyard KiplingHe 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.
Oliver Twist, Vol. II (of 3) | Charles DickensThen I ditch from the lake, and I am the proud owner of a large tract of valuable irrigated land.
Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton
British Dictionary definitions for ditch (1 of 2)
/ (dɪtʃ) /
a narrow channel dug in the earth, usually used for drainage, irrigation, or as a boundary marker
any small, natural waterway
Irish 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 ditch a last resort or place of last defence
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
(tr) slang to abandon or discard: to ditch a girlfriend
informal to land (an aircraft) on water in an emergency
(tr) US slang to evade: to ditch the police
Origin of ditch
1Derived forms of ditch
- ditcher, noun
- ditchless, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for Ditch (2 of 2)
/ (dɪtʃ) /
the Ditch an informal name for the Tasman Sea
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with ditch
see last-ditch effort.
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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