ditch

[ dich ]

noun

1. a long, narrow excavation made in the ground by digging, as for draining or irrigating land; trench.
2. any open passage or trench, as a natural channel or waterway.

verb (used with object)

1. to dig a ditch or ditches in or around.
2. to derail (a train) or drive or force (an automobile, bus, etc.) into a ditch.
3. to crash-land on water and abandon (an airplane).
4. Slang.
   1. to get rid of:

      I ditched that old hat of yours.

   2. to escape from:

      He ditched the cops by driving down an alley.

   3. to absent oneself from (school or a class) without permission or an acceptable reason.

verb (used without object)

1. to dig a ditch.
2. (of an aircraft or its crew) to crash-land in water and abandon the sinking aircraft.
3. Slang. to be truant; play hooky.

ditch

¹

/ dɪtʃ /

noun

1. a narrow channel dug in the earth, usually used for drainage, irrigation, or as a boundary marker
2. any small, natural waterway
3. a bank made of earth excavated from and placed alongside a drain or stream
4. informal.
   either of the gutters at the side of a tenpin bowling lane
5. last ditch
   a last resort or place of last defence

verb

1. to make a ditch or ditches in (a piece of ground)
2. intr to edge with a ditch
3. informal.
   to crash or be crashed, esp deliberately, as to avoid more unpleasant circumstances

   he had to ditch the car

4. slang.
   tr to abandon or discard

   to ditch a girlfriend

5. informal.
   to land (an aircraft) on water in an emergency
6. slang.
   tr to evade

   to ditch the police

Ditch

²

/ dɪtʃ /

noun

1. the Ditch
   an informal name for the Tasman Sea

Derived Forms

• ˈditchless, adjective
• ˈditcher, noun

Other Words From

• ditchless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ditch¹

before 900; 1940–45 ditch fordef 5, 1885–90 ditch fordef 6, 1955–60 ditch fordef 9; Middle English dich, Old English dīc; cognate with German Teich. See dike ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of ditch¹

Old English dīc; related to Old Saxon dīk, Old Norse dīki, Middle High German tīch dyke, pond, Latin fīgere to stick, see dyke ¹

Idioms and Phrases

see last-ditch effort .

Example Sentences

Biden has committed tens of billions of dollars to Kyiv's war effort, and at the weekend he reportedly ditched a long-standing red line on Ukraine's use of American weaponry to launch attacks deep into Russia.

From BBC

Six children have been rescued after a bus they were travelling in crashed into a water-filled ditch.

From BBC

After reading the letters, Anolik ditched her plans to revise “Hollywood’s Eve,” pivoting instead to write “Didion & Babitz,” an essential chronicle of a literary friendship.

From Los Angeles Times

Taking his cue from director Lee Isaac Chung, Snow and his Industrial Light & Magic team ditched over-the-top fantasy to make the tornadoes of Oklahoma look as real as possible.

From Los Angeles Times

But her nascent campaign opted to ditch Biden's core argument that Trump posed an existential threat to democracy, prioritising a forward-looking "joyful" message about protecting personal freedoms and preserving the middle class.

From BBC

Related Words

• dike
• gutter
• moat
• trench