dirt bed

1 definition found

dirt bed - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Dirt \Dirt\ (d[~e]rt), n. [OE. drit; kin to Icel. drit
     excrement, dr[imac]ta to dung, OD. drijten to dung, AS.
     gedr[imac]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.
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              Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.   --Is. lvii.
                                                    20.
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     2. Meanness; sordidness.
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              Honors . . . thrown away upon dirt and infamy.
                                                    --Melmoth.
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     3. In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing.
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     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.
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