Dirt \Dirt\, 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.
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.
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.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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