Dictionary

ditchwater en · NOUN

Etymology

From Middle English dich water, dyche water, equivalent to ditch + water.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) The stagnant water that collects in a ditch.
   • The company, therefore, took their places, and addressed themselves to the serious business of the feast, but were soon disturbed by the hypochondriac, who thrust back his chair, complaining that a dish of stewed toads and vipers was set before him, and that there was green ditchwater in his cup of wine. 1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Christmas Banquet”, in Mosses from an Old Manse:

Forms

Deriveds

dull as ditchwater