I. ˈdich noun
( -es )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English dich, from Old English dīc dike, ditch — more at dike
1. : a long narrow excavation dug in the earth
2.
a. : a trench for guarding or fencing enclosures
b. : a trench for conveying water for drainage or irrigation
c. : the area at either side of a road usually consisting of a drainage trench
a car headed for the ditch
3. chiefly Irish : a bank of earth from an excavation
4. : a natural or artificial usually narrow watercourse or waterway
5. : the ground bounding a bowling green sometimes consisting of a shallow trench
6. : a borrow pit of a road
7. : a trough for disposing of the drilling fluid in rotary drilling of an oil well
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: Middle English dichen, from dich, n.
transitive verb
1.
a. : to enclose with a ditch
a pasture hedged and ditched
b. : to dig a ditch in (as for drainage or irrigation)
2. : to cause (a train) to derail : drive (a car) into the ditch
3.
a. : to discard, dismiss, or abandon as no longer useful or desirable : get rid of
ditched the old policy when it proved ineffective
ditch his fiancée
b. slang : to hide, put away, or put aside with the intent of recovery
ditch the stolen goods
c. slang : to get away from or avoid by artifice or stratagem
ditched me by sneaking out the back door
let's ditch school today
4. : to make a forced landing of (an aircraft) on water
intransitive verb
1. : to dig a ditch
2. dialect : to clean or repair a ditch
3. : to make a forced landing of an aircraft on water