Word.ws English Dictionary

throw dirt

throw dirt verb: to fling dust or similar.

Verb

throw dirt (third-person singular simple present throws dirt, present participle throwing dirt, simple past threw dirt, past participle thrown dirt)

  1. To fling dust or similar.
  2. (figuratively) To make derogatory or malicious allegations, particularly about people in public life.
    • I hope...that you are ignorant of the whole affair, and are so bold only because you are blind...And blind enough; so that you blunder on through thick and thin, bespattering all that come in your way, according to the old, laudable maxim, 'Throw dirt enough, and some will stick.'1759, John Wesley, letter to John Downes, Rector of St. Michael's, Wood Street, read at Wesley Center Online at https://web.archive.org/web/20060903061313/http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/letters/176...
    • Jortin however has pithily remarked, "It requires something of a hand even to throw dirt." The Reviewer, though no tyro, is still a bungler in that trade.1827, Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider, Hugh James Rose, Apology for the modern theology of Protestant Germany, or a review of ... 'The state of the Protestant religion in Germany' by Hugh James Rose, tr....

Forms of throw dirt

third-person singular presentthrows dirt
present participlethrowing dirt
pastthrew dirt
past participlethrown dirt

Questions about throw dirt

What does throw dirt mean?
Throw dirt means to fling dust or similar.
What part of speech is throw dirt?
Throw dirt is a verb.
What is the past tense of throw dirt?
The past tense of throw dirt is threw dirt.

Words near throw dirt in the dictionary

  1. throw boards
  2. throw by
  3. throw caution to the wind
  4. throw chunks
  5. throw cold water on
  6. throw dirt
  7. throw dirt enough, and some will stick
  8. throw dirt on
  9. throw down
  10. throw down one's tools
  11. throw down the gauntlet

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throw dirt (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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