- dirt
- noun1 substance that makes sth dirtyADJECTIVE▪ excess, loose▪
She brushed the loose dirt off her coat.
▪ ingrained▪ dog (BrE)▪ accumulated▪Clean your face with soap to remove accumulated dirt and oil.
… OF DIRT▪ speck▪ streak▪He had streaks of dirt all over his face.
▪ layerVERB + DIRT▪ be covered in, be covered with▪His shoes were covered in dirt.
▪ brush off, clean off, dust off (esp. AmE), remove, rub, rub off, scrape, scrub off, shake, wash off, wipe▪He rubbed the dirt off his face. (BrE)
▪He rubbed the dirt from his face. (AmE)
▪ sweep▪He swept the dirt out onto the porch.
▪ show▪The white rug really shows the dirt.
▪ attract (esp. AmE)▪This material does not attract much dirt.
▪ loosen (esp. AmE)▪Massage your scalp to loosen any dirt.
DIRT + VERB▪ accumulate▪Dirt had accumulated in the corners of the windows.
▪ cover▪Blood and dirt covered his face.
DIRT + NOUN▪ fleck (AmE), particle, speck▪Sunlight steamed through the dirt particles in the air.
2 (AmE) soil/mudADJECTIVE▪ excess, loose▪She filled the hole with loose dirt.
▪ soft▪Her fingernails raked the soft dirt beneath her.
▪ dry, wet▪a floor of dry dirt
▪ hard-packed, packed▪He landed hard on the packed dirt.
▪ bare (AmE)▪The front lawn has patches of bare dirt.
▪ cold▪He picked himself up off the cold dirt.
▪ fill▪a couple of inches of fill dirt
▪ infield (AmE)▪Rose picked the ball up off the infield dirt.
▪ ingrained▪ fresh▪the mounds of fresh dirt over all the graves
… OF DIRT▪ layerVERB + DIRT▪ be covered in, be covered with▪His shoes were covered in dirt.
▪ dig, move, shovel▪The men started to shovel dirt into the open grave.
▪ throw▪They threw dirt into my face.
DIRT + NOUN▪ course, driveway, lane, path, road, street, strip, track, trail▪the Palermo dirt course
▪ floor, ground▪ wall▪The blow knocked him against the dirt wall.
▪ lot, parking lot, yard▪the dirt yard in front of the barn
▪ farmer▪ farm▪He grew up on a dirt farm in upstate New York.
▪ clod, clump▪They throw sticks and dirt clods up into the air.
▪ mound, pile▪ smudge, stain▪I tried to rub off a dirt stain on my sleeve.
PREPOSITION▪ in the dirt▪children playing in the dirt
3 harmful/unpleasant information about sbVERB + DIRT▪ have▪ get (esp. AmE)▪We need to get some dirt on her.
▪ dig, dig up▪He could dig up so much dirt on her.
PREPOSITION▪ dirt on▪Do you have any dirt on the new guy?
PHRASES▪ dish the dirt▪She just loves to dish the dirt (= tell people unkind/unpleasant things about sb).
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
