dirty
v.v. to make something messy or not clean. You use this when you get mud on your clothes or marks on a floor.
v. to make something unclean or soiled. Transitive — requires a direct object such as a surface or garment.
Be careful not to dirty your new shoes in the garden.
The children managed to dirty the white carpet with their muddy boots before I could stop them.
Industrial runoff can quickly dirty local waterways, leading to long-term ecological damage that requires expensive filtration systems to reverse.
From Middle English dirti, alteration of earlier dritti, equivalent to dirt + -y. Cognate with Middle Low German drēterich (“dirty”). See also drite.
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object.
I dirtied of my shirtI dirtied my shirtDirty is a transitive verb; it takes a direct object without a preposition.
- 01
air one's dirty laundry in public
To reveal one's sordid secrets to the public.
- 02
air one's dirty linen in public
Synonym of air one's dirty laundry in public.
- 03
dirty laundry
Unflattering or embarrassing facts, or questionable activities that one wants to remain secret, but which someone else may use as blackmail.