• IPA^(key):/dɪt͡ʃ/

• Audio(US):

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• Rhymes:-ɪtʃ

FromMiddle Englishdich, fromOld Englishdīċ(“trench, moat”) fromProto-Germanic*dīkaz (compareSwedishdike,Icelandicdíki,West Frisiandyk(“dam”),Dutchdijk(“dam”),GermanTeich(“pond”)), fromProto-Indo-European*dʰeygʷ-(“to stick, set up”) (compareLatinfīgō(“to affix, fasten”),Lithuaniandiegti(“to prick; plant”),dýgsti(“to geminate, grow”)). Doublet ofdike.

ditch (pluralditches)

1. Atrench; a long, shallow indentation, as forirrigation ordrainage.

   Diggingditches has long been considered one of the most demanding forms of manual labor.

   The truck careered off the road into aditch.

   • 2011, Ralph D. Sawyer,Ancient Chinese Warfare‎^[1],Basic Books,→ISBN,→LCCN,→OCLC,page30:

     Ditches continued to be employed as the sole defensive measure at many sites even after wall building began to emerge. For example, an immenseditch varying between 15 and 20 meters in width and marked by depths of 2.5 to 3.8 meters has recently been discovered in Hubei near Sui-chou.

2. (Ireland) A raisedbank of earth and thehedgerow on top.
   • c.1947,Patrick Kavanagh, “Stony Grey Soil”,Poetry Selections, inIreland Study Abroad‎^[2],University Park, Pennsylvania:Pennsylvania State University, archived fromthe original on14 March 2021, page 1:

     You flung aditch on my vision
     Of beauty, love and truth.
     O stony grey soil ofMonaghan
     You burgled my bank of youth!

   • 2013 October 31, Frank McNally, “When Anglophone lines get crossed”, inThe Irish Times‎^[3],Dublin:Irish Times Trust, archived fromthe original on14 March 2021:

     The original ditches were created by digging trenches, as boundaries and/or irrigation. But to the English, theditch is the trench. Whereas in Ireland, the ditch is the raised bank of earth and the hedgerow on top. (As for the trench, where I come from that’s a sheugh).

• fosse
• moat
• The Ditch
• rhubarb

ditch (third-person singular simple presentditches,present participleditching,simple past and past participleditched)

1. (transitive) Todiscard orabandon.

   Once the sun came out weditched our rain-gear and started a campfire.

   Why did youditch your last boyfriend? He was so nice to you.

2. (ambitransitive,aviation) To deliberatelycrash-land anairplane onwater.

   When the second engine failed, the pilot was forced toditch; their last location was just south of the Azores.

3. (ambitransitive) To deliberately notattendclasses; toplay hookey.

   The truant officer caught Louiseditching with her friends, and her parents were forced to pay a fine.

   • 2005 December 2, Dan Shive,El Goonish Shive (webcomic),Comic for Friday, Dec 2, 2005:

     "No,instead, it just had enough power totransform me,overload, and force me towait tochange back! I had toditch school!"

4. (intransitive) To digditches.

   Enclosure led to fuller winter employment in hedging andditching.

5. (transitive) To digditches around.

   The soldiersditched the tent to prevent flooding.

6. (transitive) To throw into aditch.

   The engine wasditched and turned on its side.

• abandon
• discard
• dump
• jettison
• lose
• shed
• See alsoThesaurus:junk

• ditchable
• ditch out

From earlierdeche, fromMiddle Englishdechen, fromOld Englishdēcan(“to smear, plaster, daub”). More atdeech.

ditch (third-person singular simple presentditches,present participleditching,simple past and past participleditched)

1. Alternative form ofdeech

ditch (usuallyuncountable,pluralditches)

1. Alternative form ofdeech