disgraceful gossip about the private lives of other people
"The tabloid ran nothing but dirt on the local mayor's secret affairs."
Soil or earth.
"The financial report clarified that the term DIRT referred to the Deposit Interest Retention Tax applied to savings accounts."
Acronym of Deposit Interest Retention Tax.
In plain English: Dirt is loose, dry earth that you can pick up with your hands and throw away when it gets on something clean.
"The children played in the dirt until their clothes were covered in mud."
To make foul or filthy; soil; befoul; dirty
"The muddy water from the construction site dirtied the pristine white car."
In plain English: To dirt something means to make it dirty by covering it with mud, dust, or other grime.
"The old shoes were so dirty that she had to scrub them until they were clean again."
Usage: Use this verb to describe actions that physically stain, soil, or contaminate something with dirt rather than using it metaphorically. It is most commonly found in phrases like "dirt the floor" when referring to making a surface visibly messy.
The word "dirt" comes from Middle English and Old Norse words meaning excrement. It ultimately traces back to a root related to having diarrhea, which explains its original sense of waste matter before shifting to mean soil or grime.