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# ditch

«ditch» in Mova's school dictionary: **a long narrow hole dug in the ground, often along a road…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (ditch, ditches); verb (ditch, ditches, ditched, ditching)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A ditch is a long narrow hole dug in the ground, often along a road or field for water. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#m1)

2) To ditch something is to get rid of it or leave it (informal). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#m2)

3) To ditch a plane is to land it on water in an emergency. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

a length that is dug; metres dug each day, how long it takes a team; in farming ditches carry rainwater away from fields; in safety: a ditch by a road can be deep and full of water; phrases: «dig a ditch», «a last-ditch try» (a final try when all else failed)

### examples

- They dig a ditch 60 metres long. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#x1)
- Each day they dig 12 metres of the ditch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#x2)
- How many days to finish the ditch? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#x3)
- 2 workers dig the ditch together. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#x4)
- The car slid off the icy road into a ditch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#x5)
- Frogs live in the muddy ditch by the field. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#x6)
- He ditched his old bike and bought a new one. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#x7)
- Rainwater runs along the ditch into the stream. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#x8)
- Caw! caw! a crow flew up from the ditch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/#x9)

### note

Length ÷ length per day gives the days. A work problem: more workers usually means fewer days. Plural: ditches. «Ditch» as a verb is informal (ditch a plan = drop it).

### In the corpora

- [The frightened old horse rears and backs, and drags the cart into the deep ditch: crash!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/32-willows-ch2-part4-the-wreck-and-the-new-craze/0/)
- [Toad: «What carts I shall fling carelessly into the ditch in the wake of my magnificent onset!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/32-willows-ch2-part4-the-wreck-and-the-new-craze/25/)
- [Mole ran off, crept back along a ditch and peeped through the hedge.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/69-willows-ch11-part5-clever-mole/7/)
- [Keep away from storm drains, ditches and culverts, because fast water can sweep a child into a drain pipe.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/235-rain-floods-and-storms/14/)
- [He hath digged a pit, and hollowed it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.81/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «ditch» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/ditch/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.