down-and-dirty
[ doun-uhn-dur-tee ]
/ ˈdaʊn ənˈdɜr ti /
adjective Informal.
unscrupulous; nasty: a down-and-dirty election campaign.
earthy; funky.
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“I do believe that the buck stops here, that I cannot rely upon public opinion polls to tell me what is right. I do believe that right makes might and that if I am wrong, 10 angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”
Origin of down-and-dirty
First recorded in 1985–90
Words nearby down-and-dirty
Dowland, dowlas, dowly, Dow metal, down, down-and-dirty, down-and-out, down-at-the-heels, down-ballot, downbeat, down-bow
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
British Dictionary definitions for down-and-dirty
down and dirty
adjective (down-and-dirty when prenominal) informal, mainly US
ruthlessly competitive or underhandif Bush gets down and dirty the Governor will give as good as he gets
uninhibited; frank
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
Idioms and Phrases with down-and-dirty
down and dirty
Vicious, not governed by rules of decency, as in The candidates are getting down and dirty early in the campaign. [Slang; early 1980s]
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]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.