Adjacent Words

Ditch definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DITCH, n. [G.]
1. A trench in the earth made by digging, particularly a trench for draining wet land, or for making a fence to guard inclosures, or for preventing an enemy from approaching a town or fortress. In the latter sense, it is called also a foss or moat, and is dug round the rampart or wall between the scarp and counterscarp.
2. Any long, hollow receptacle of water.
DITCH, v.i. To dig or make a ditch or ditches.
DITCH, v.t.
1. To dig a ditch or ditches in; to drain by a ditch; as, to ditch moist land.
2. To surround with a ditch.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a long narrow excavation in the earth
2: any small natural waterway v
1: forsake; "ditch a lover"
2: throw away; "Chuck these old notes" [syn: chuck, ditch]
3: sever all ties with, usually unceremoniously or irresponsibly; "The company dumped him after many years of service"; "She dumped her boyfriend when she fell in love with a rich man" [syn: dump, ditch]
4: make an emergency landing on water
5: crash or crash-land; "ditch a car"; "ditch a plane"
6: cut a trench in, as for drainage; "ditch the land to drain it"; "trench the fields" [syn: trench, ditch]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English dich, from Old English d?c dike, ditch; akin to Middle High German t?ch pond, dike Date: before 12th century a long narrow excavation dug in the earth (as for drainage) II. verb Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to enclose with a ditch b. to dig a ditch in 2. to make a forced landing of (an airplane) on water 3. a. to get rid of ; discard <ditch an old car> b. to end association with ; leave <ditched school> <his girlfriend ditched him> intransitive verb 1. to dig a ditch 2. to crash-land at sea

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a long narrow excavated channel esp. for drainage or to mark a boundary. 2 a watercourse, stream, etc. --v. 1 intr. make or repair ditches (hedging and ditching). 2 tr. provide with ditches; drain. 3 tr. sl. leave in the lurch; abandon. 4 tr. colloq. a bring (an aircraft) down on the sea in an emergency. b drive (a vehicle) into a ditch. 5 intr. colloq. (of an aircraft) make a forced landing on the sea. 6 tr. sl. defeat; frustrate. 7 tr. US derail (a train). Phrases and idioms: ditch-water stagnant water in a ditch. dull as ditch-water extremely dull. last ditch a place of final desperate defence (fight to the last ditch). Derivatives: ditcher n. Etymology: OE dic, of unkn. orig.: cf. DIKE(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stonecrop Stone"crop`, n. [AS. st[=a]ncropp.] 1. A sort of tree. [Obs.] --Mortimer. 2. (Bot.) Any low succulent plant of the genus Sedum, esp. Sedum acre, which is common on bare rocks in Europe, and is spreading in parts of America. See Orpine. Virginian, or Ditch, stonecrop, an American plant (Penthorum sedoides).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ditch Ditch, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ditched; p. pr. & vb. n. Ditching.] 1. To dig a ditch or ditches in; to drain by a ditch or ditches; as, to ditch moist land. 2. To surround with a ditch. --Shak. 3. To throw into a ditch; as, the engine was ditched and turned on its side.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ditch Ditch, v. i. To dig a ditch or ditches. --Swift.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ditch Ditch (?; 224), n.; pl. Ditches. [OE. dich, orig. the same word as dik. See Dike.] 1. A trench made in the earth by digging, particularly a trench for draining wet land, for guarding or fencing inclosures, or for preventing an approach to a town or fortress. In the latter sense, it is called also a moat or a fosse. 2. Any long, narrow receptacle for water on the surface of the earth.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(ditches, ditching, ditched) 1. A ditch is a long narrow channel cut into the ground at the side of a road or field. N-COUNT 2. If you ditch something that you have or are responsible for, you abandon it or get rid of it, because you no longer want it. (INFORMAL) I decided to ditch the sofa bed. = dump VERB: V n 3. If someone ditches someone, they end a relationship with that person. (INFORMAL) I can't bring myself to ditch him and start again. = dump VERB: V n 4. If a pilot ditches an aircraft or if it ditches, the pilot makes an emergency landing. One American pilot was forced to ditch his jet in the Gulf... A survivor was knocked unconscious when the helicopter ditched. VERB: V n, V 5. see also last-ditch

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dich: The word is used indiscriminately in the King James Version to represent at least three different ideas: a conduit or trench (2Ki 3:16); a reservoir or cistern; or simply a pit or hole in the ground. In the Revised Version (British and American) this distinction is observed more carefully. Compare Job 9:31; Ps 7:15 ("pit"), and Isa 22:11 ("reservoir"), the former meaning a pit or any similar place of destruction or corruption; the latter a reservoir or cistern of water. The New Testament usage (Mt 15:14 the King James Version) corresponds somewhat with the former. See also 2Ki 3:16 ("trenches").

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Trench.

Moby Thesaurus

abandon, abri, abysm, abyss, adit, alight, approach trench, aqueduct, arch dam, arroyo, backstop, bamboo curtain, bank, bar, barrage, barrier, bear-trap dam, beaver dam, beg, boom, box canyon, breach, break, breakwater, breastwork, brick wall, buffer, bulkhead, bulwark, bunker, bury, cache, canal, canalization, canalize, canyon, carve, cashier, cast, cast aside, cast away, cast off, cavity, chamfer, channel, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, chisel, chuck, circumvent, cleave, cleft, cleuch, clough, cofferdam, col, come down, come in, communication trench, conceal, conduit, corrugate, coulee, couloir, countermine, coupure, course, cover, crack, cranny, crash-land, crevasse, crevice, crimp, cut, cut apart, cwm, dado, dam, deep-six, defense, defile, dell, descend, dike, discard, dispose of, ditch, donga, double, double sap, downwind, draw, duct, dugout, dump, earthwork, egress, eighty-six, eliminate, elude, embankment, engrave, ensconce, entrance, entrenchment, escape, evade, excavation, exit, fault, fence, fire trench, fissure, flaw, flume, flute, flying sap, fortified tunnel, fosse, foxhole, fracture, furrow, gallery, gap, gape, gash, gate, get around, get away from, get out of, get quit of, get rid of, get shut of, give away, goffer, gorge, gouge, gravity dam, groin, groove, gulch, gulf, gully, gutter, ha-ha, hide, hole, hydraulic-fill dam, incise, incision, ingress, iron curtain, jam, jettison, jetty, jilt, joint, junk, kennel, kloof, land, leak, leaping weir, levee, level off, light, logjam, milldam, mine, moat, mole, mound, notch, nullah, occult, open, opening, overshoot, pancake, parallel, parapet, part with, pass, passage, passageway, pleat, plow, portcullis, rabbet, rampart, ravine, reject, remove, rent, rifle, rift, rime, rive, roadblock, rock-fill dam, rupture, rut, sap, scissure, score, scrap, scratch, screen, seam, seawall, secrete, settle down, shake, shake off, shuffle out of, shutter dam, skirt, slit, slit trench, slot, slough, split, stone wall, streak, striate, sunk fence, talk down, throw away, throw out, throw over, throw overboard, toss overboard, touch down, trench, trough, troughing, troughway, tunnel, upwind, valley, void, wadi, wall, way, weir, wicket dam, work, wrinkle