dirt: [13] Dirt was originally drit, and meant ‘excrement’ (it was borrowed from Old Norse drit, which goes back to a prehistoric Germanic base *drit- that also produced Dutch dreet ‘excrement’). The toned-down sense ‘soiling substance’ is of equal antiquity with ‘excrement’ in English, and the modern English form dirt first appeared in the 15th century, by a process known as metathesis in which two sounds are reversed.
dirt (n.)
15c. metathesis of Middle English drit, drytt "mud, dirt, dung" (c. 1300), from Old Norse drit, cognate with Old English dritan "to void excrement," from Proto-Germanic *dritan (cognates: Dutch drijten, Old High German trizan). Used abusively of persons from c. 1300. Meaning "gossip" first attested 1926 (in Hemingway); dirt bike is 1960s. Dirt-cheap is from 1821. Dirt road attested by 1852.
双语例句
1. He claims Pasolini overtook and tackled him, pushing him into the dirt.
他声称帕索利尼追上去打他，把他推倒在烂泥里。
来自柯林斯例句
2. A group of riders came into view on the dirt road.
一群骑车的人出现在那条土路上。
来自柯林斯例句
3. They're always selling off stuff like that dirt cheap.
他们总是以非常便宜的价格把类似那样的东西处理掉。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Most of the dirt was on the outside of the tinted glass.
大部分灰尘在有色玻璃的外部。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The rooster chased me across the dirt floor of the barn.
