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
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use ditch in a sentence
So does this research mean meat-refusing males should start ditching their diets?
Beer Makes You More Virile, but Veggies Don’t? Busting the Biggest Myths About Sperm Count | Charlotte Lytton | October 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOff camera, Rooney was growing up fast, ditching school and developing an impressive vocabulary of curse words.
The master nerds who rule the Valley are talking about ditching the rest of us and heading for the hills.
The Race Is On in Silicon Valley to Escape Real America | James Poulos | November 30, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTBut the actor felt like an outsider, and by 13, was ditching school to smoke pot and drink.
‘Glee’ Star Cory Monteith Found Dead: A Tortured Talent Gone Too Soon | Marlow Stern | July 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTDitching the bleach, he seeped manly confidence with what appears to be a samurai ponytail.
What does a poor man do, who goes out hedging and ditching with a dead child lying in his house?
The Prime Minister | Anthony TrollopeA man who has been a Fleet parson is like one who has passed a morning in hedging and ditching.
The Chaplain of the Fleet | Walter Besant and James RiceBut even 10 acres is a big field, quite big enough to repay the cost of hedging and ditching.
The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century | Richard Henry TawneyA wagon passed, and then a tax-cart, and afterward two old men going ditching.
A Rose of a Hundred Leaves | Amelia Edith Huddleston BarrAccordingly he went to plowing, ditching, and blowing rocks and built a new stone bridge over a stream.
Revolutionary Heroes, And Other Historical Papers | James Parton
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.
Browse