dung

American  

[duhng] / dʌŋ /

noun

1. excrement, especially of animals; manure.

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verb (used with object)

dungs, present (3rd person singular) dunged, past participle, past dunging present participle

1. to manure (ground) with or as if with dung.

dung British  

/ dʌŋ /

noun

1. 1. excrement, esp of animals; manure

   2. ( as modifier )

      dung cart

2. something filthy

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verb

1. (tr) to cover (ground) with manure

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• dungy
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• dunging
  present
• dunged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• dung
  simple
• dungs
  simple
• have dunged
  perfect
• has dunged
  perfect
• am dunging
  progressive
• are dunging
  progressive
• is dunging
  progressive
• have been dunging
  perfect progressive
• has been dunging
  perfect progressive

Past

• dunged
  simple
• had dunged
  perfect
• was dunging
  progressive
• were dunging
  progressive
• had been dunging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will dung
  simple
• will have dunged
  perfect
• will be dunging
  progressive
• will have been dunging
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dung dungs dunged dunging

During the hottest hours, many retreat to makeshift huts -- frames of sticks draped with coarse homespun cloth, plastered with wild donkey dung.

From Barron's ● May 10, 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

Of particular concern are dung-feeding insects such as flies, dung beetles, and some butterflies.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 22, 2026

“Powdered stone worked. So did lizard’s blood and crocodile dung, and pig’s teeth and dolphin’s genitalia and frog’s sperm,” as psychologist Irving Kirsch later explained it.

From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2026

A fire would be lit and dried cow dung put in to burn.

From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya

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

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

You know, my friends, that if we wants to get a good crop of anything we dungs the ground.

From The Parish Clerk by Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)

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 Harrison, Fairfax

He is like a horse in a pasture, that eats up the grass and dungs it in requital.

From Character Writings of the 17th Century by Various

The soil from which he bloomed was richly dunged.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 21, 2018

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

I digged about it, I dunged it; I gained time, and supplied it with means; but I laboured herein in vain, and spent my strength for nought, and in vain!

From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03 by Bunyan, John

Hast thou been digg'd about and dunged too, Will neither patience nor yet dressing do?

From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03 by Bunyan, John

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 Mann, David Dickinson

In respect to the beavers dunging in their houses, as some persons assert, it is quite wrong, as they always plunge into water to do it.

From Quadrupeds, What They Are and Where Found A Book of Zoology for Boys by Harvey, William

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 Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de

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 Browning, William Ernst

And thus much for the fashion, digging, and dunging of gardens.

From The English Husbandman The First Part: Contayning the Knowledge of the true Nature of euery Soyle within this Kingdome: how to Plow it; and the manner of the Plough, and other Instruments by Markham, Gervase

But as for our Monkish Antiquaries, and the Monastick Learning, it seems to be reserv'd for the Improvement of those, whose Minds, like barren Soils, will never bear without dunging.

From An Essay on Criticism by Oldmixon, John

Related Words

• droppings
• feces
• manure
• poop