Word.ws English Dictionary

give the dirts

give the dirts verb: to verbally abuse.

Verb

give the dirts (third-person singular simple present gives the dirts, present participle giving the dirts, simple past gave the dirts, past participle given the dirts)

  1. To verbally abuse.
    • You write about the 'fray,' From some place far away, You're giving us what Tommy calls the 'dirts.' With your 'majesty of war', and our 'eagerness for more', Remember that this sort of rubbish hurts.2009, Patrick Deer, Culture in Camouflage: War, Empire, and Modern British Literature, →ISBN
    • I expect when he sees those trembling hands of mine, he'll give me a dose of the dirts through his rectangular glasses and reprimand me: “Get a hold on yourself, Mr Ali. This is a court not a Parkinson's clinic.'2013, Arjun Shekhar, End of Story, →ISBN

Forms of give the dirts

third-person singular presentgives the dirts
present participlegiving the dirts
pastgave the dirts
past participlegiven the dirts

Questions about give the dirts

What does give the dirts mean?
Give the dirts means to verbally abuse.
What part of speech is give the dirts?
Give the dirts is a verb.
What is the past tense of give the dirts?
The past tense of give the dirts is gave the dirts.

Words near give the dirts in the dictionary

  1. give suck
  2. give the ax
  3. give the axe
  4. give the bird
  5. give the devil his due
  6. give the dirts
  7. give the elbow
  8. give the finger
  9. give the fingers
  10. give the floor
  11. give the game away

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: give the dirts (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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