| dirt | 1. Any foul of filthy substance, as excrement, mud, dust, etc.; whatever, adhering to anything, renders it foul or unclean; earth; as, a wagonload of dirt. "Whose waters cast up mire and dirt." (Is. Lvii. 20) 2. Meanness; sordidness. "Honors . . . Thrown away upon dirt and infamy." (Melmoth) 3. In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc, before washing. <medicine> Dirt bed Same as Chthonophagia. Dirt pie, clay or mud molded by children in imitation of pastry. To eat dirt, to submit in a meanly humble manner to insults; to eat humble pie. Origin: OE. Drit; kin to Icel. Drit excrement, drita to dung, OD. Drijten to dung, AS. Gedritan. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| dirt-eating | Geophagismgeophagy The practice of eating dirt or clay. Synonym: dirt-eating, earth-eating. Origin: Geo-+ G. Phago, to eat (05 Mar 2000) |