dirty

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dirt·y / ˈdərtē/ • adj. (dirt·i·er , dirt·i·est ) covered or marked with an unclean substance: a tray of dirty cups and saucers | her boots were dirty. ∎  causing a person or environment to become unclean: farming is a hard, dirty job. ∎  (of a nuclear weapon) producing considerable radioactive fallout. ∎  (of a color) not bright, clear, or pure: the sea was a waste of dirty gray. ∎  concerned with sex in an unpleasant or obscene way: he told a stream of dirty jokes. ∎  inf. used to emphasize one's disgust for someone or something: you dirty rat! ∎  (of an activity) dishonest; dishonorable: he had a reputation for dirty dealing. ∎  (of weather) rough, stormy, and unpleasant: the yacht was ready for dirty weather. ∎  (of popular music) having a distorted or rasping tone: Nirvana's dirty guitar sound. • v. (dirt·ies, dirt·ied) [tr.] cover or mark with an unclean substance: she didn't like him dirtying her nice clean towels. ∎  cause to feel or appear morally tainted: the criminals have dirtied the city. PHRASES: the dirty end of the stick inf. the difficult or unpleasant part of a task or situation. get one's hands dirty do manual, menial, or other hard work: unlike most chairmen, he gets his hands dirty working alongside the other managers. ∎ inf. become involved in dishonest or dishonorable activity: they can make a lot of money, but fat cats don't get their hands dirty. play dirty inf. act in a dishonest or unfair way. talk dirty inf. speak about sex in a coarse or obscene way. wash one's dirty laundry in public see wash.DERIVATIVES: dirt·i·ly / ˈdərtəlē/ adv. dirt·i·ness n.

dirty dirty bomb a conventional bomb that contains radioactive material.
dirty old man an older man who is sexually interested in younger women or girls.
dirty water will quench fire a man's lust can be satisfied by any woman, however ugly or immoral; saying recorded from the mid 16th century.
dirty weekend a weekend spent away, especially in secret, with a lover.
dirty work at the crossroads dishonourable, illicit, or underhand behaviour. The term (recorded from the early 20th century) may reflect a view of crossroads as a sinister place, where suicides were traditionally buried.

dirty •footy, putti, sooty, tutti •shufti • casualty • deputy •butty, cutty, gutty, nutty, puttee, putty, rutty, smutty •mufti, tufty •bhakti • subtlety • humpty-dumpty •Bunty, runty •bustee, busty, crusty, dusty, fusty, gusty, lusty, musty, rusty, trusty •fealty • realty •propriety, society •loyalty, royalty •cruelty •Krishnamurti, Trimurti •liberty • puberty •faggoty, maggoty •Hecate • chocolatey • Cromarty •commonalty • personalty • property •carroty • guaranty • mayoralty •warranty • admiralty • severalty •poverty •Alberti, Bertie, dirty, flirty, shirty, thirty •uncertainty •Kirstie, thirsty •bloodthirsty