- To eat dirt
- Dirt Dirt (d[~e]rt), n. [OE. drit; kin to Icel. drit
excrement, dr[=i]ta to dung, OD. drijten to dung, AS.
gedr[=i]tan.]
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.
[1913 Webster]
Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. --Is. lvii. 20. [1913 Webster]
2. Meanness; sordidness. [1913 Webster]
Honors . . . thrown away upon dirt and infamy. --Melmoth. [1913 Webster]
3. In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing. [1913 Webster]
{Dirt bed} (Geom.), a layer of clayey earth forming a stratum in a geological formation. Dirt beds are common among the coal measures.
{Dirt eating}. (a) The use of certain kinds of clay for food, existing among some tribes of Indians; geophagism. --Humboldt. (b) (Med.) Same as {Chthonophagia}.
{Dirt pie}, clay or mud molded by children in imitation of pastry. --Otway (1684).
{To eat dirt}, to submit in a meanly humble manner to insults; to eat humble pie. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.