down-and-dirty

American  

[doun-uhn-dur-tee] / ˈdaʊn ənˈdɜr ti /

adjective

Informal.

1. unscrupulous; nasty.

   a down-and-dirty election campaign.

2. earthy; funky.

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down and dirty British  

adjective

1. ruthlessly competitive or underhand

   if Bush gets down and dirty the Governor will give as good as he gets

2. uninhibited; frank

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down and dirty Idioms  

1. Vicious, not governed by rules of decency, as in The candidates are getting down and dirty early in the campaign . [ Slang ; early 1980s]

2. Very earthy, uninhibitedly sexual. For example, “L.A. club people rarely get down and dirty on a dance floor” ( The New Yorker , May 21, 1990). [Late 1980s]

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Etymology

Origin of down-and-dirty

First recorded in 1985–90

Example Sentences

Further hints of Burroughs are daubed here and there throughout the twin McCarthy books: the unseemly characters populating a down-and-dirty underworld, dubious detectives and layers of pulp noir, mental wards and medical jargon, an unreliable plot — plenty of elements feel like they would be right at home in the infamous Beat writer's Interzone junkscape.

From Salon

In a series rife with story angles and subplots — alleged cheap shots perpetrated by each team, off-ice drama, injuries — it was good, old-fashioned down-and-dirty hockey that mesmerized most thoroughly.

From Seattle Times

“We like to go for a good mix of wild and crazy buildings but also down-and-dirty bridges,” Wolf said.

From Seattle Times

But they did make it onto the stage, backed by a string quartet and tearing through the down-and-dirty riffs of their opening number, Smile.

From BBC

Set in 1979, before the internet made pornography ubiquitous and before anyone was pontificating about “elevated horror,” this sly and nasty picture insists that the flesh and blood of down-and-dirty entertainment is, literally, flesh and blood.

From New York Times

Related Words

• bawdy
• crude
• ribald
• vulgar