To eat dirt

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.

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  • eat dirt — phrasal : to be or become grovelingly submissive * * * eat dirt To acquiesce submissively in a humiliation • • • Main Entry: ↑dirt * * * I informal suffer insults or humiliation the film bombed at the box office and the critics made it eat dirt …   Useful english dictionary

  • eat dirt —    If you eat dirt, you are forced to accept another person s bad treatment or insulting remarks.     As a consequence of the strike, the employees had to eat dirt …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

  • eat dirt — {v. phr.}, {informal} To act humble; accept another s insult or bad treatment. * /Mr. Johnson was so much afraid of losing his job that he would eat dirt whenever the boss got mean./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • eat dirt — {v. phr.}, {informal} To act humble; accept another s insult or bad treatment. * /Mr. Johnson was so much afraid of losing his job that he would eat dirt whenever the boss got mean./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • eat\ dirt — v. phr. informal To act humble; accept another s insult or bad treatment. Mr. Johnson was so much afraid of losing his job that he would eat dirt whenever the boss got mean …   Словарь американских идиом

  • eat dirt — accept another s insult or bad treatment, act humble He made the senior manager eat dirt as revenge for his bad treatment in the past …   Idioms and examples

  • eat dirt — informal suffer insults or humiliation. → dirt …   English new terms dictionary

  • eat dirt — vb See eat shit! …   Contemporary slang

  • eat dirt — Humble one s self, abase one s self, lower one s note, fall on one s knees, get a setdown, eat humble pie …   New dictionary of synonyms

  • Eat dirt — expression of triumph, said to a vehicle overtaken in a race …   Dictionary of Australian slang

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