ditch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪtʃ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English diche, inherited from Old English dīc (“ditch, dike”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} cognate with Old Saxon dīk, Dutch dijk, German Teich (“pond”) and Old Norse díki,^[2][4][6] of unknown origin.^[4] The Old English word gave a northern form dike and a southern form ditch, spelled with t mostly from the 16th century.^[2][3] A dike was first a trench and later the bank thrown up by digging one.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A long narrow trench: 847.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

A trench for water or drainage is from 1297.^[7] The verb, to surround with a ditch or dig one, is from about 1385, in Chaucer.^[2][3] To throw into a ditch is from 1816, and then to derail a train,^[3] which led to the American slang sense, to abandon or discard (1899).^[2][3] Of aircraft, to come down in the sea, it is by 1941,^[3] perhaps helped by naval and RAF slang the ditch for the sea or the English Channel (1922).^[3][7] In Australia and New Zealand the Ditch is the Tasman Sea.^[8]

Timeline

• 847 – a ditch.^[7]
• 1297 – a drainage ditch.^[7]
• c. 1385 – to ditch (verb).^[2]
• 1816 – to throw into a ditch.^[3]
• 1899 – to abandon (US).^[2][3]
• by 1941 – to ditch an aircraft.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A long narrow channel dug in the ground, as for drainage or irrigation or to mark a boundary.
2. Any small natural waterway.
3. last ditch: a last line of defence or a last resort.

Verb

1. To dig a ditch in, or surround with one.
2. (informal) To get rid of; to abandon or jilt.
3. To land an aircraft in the sea in an emergency.
4. To drive a vehicle into a ditch; to derail a train.

Word family

• ditchless
• ditchdigger
• ditcher
• last-ditch
• ditchwater
• bar ditch

Related words

• dike
• dyke

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins