bar ditch

noun

A low ditch running along the side of a road.

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Meanings

nounbar ditch (plural bar ditches)

plural bar ditches

  1. Southern USA low ditch running along the side of a road.

    She continued along the bar ditch, sweat running down her back now.

    2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 282

Origin

Uncertain. Perhaps from bar + ditch because it ‘bars’ cattle from crossing on to the road; the first word may be a corruption of borrow (compare borrow pit), because the material to make the crown of the road was ‘borrowed’ from the sides.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bar ditch. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bar%20ditch

MLA

“bar ditch.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bar%20ditch. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bar ditch,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bar%20ditch.

Source: bar ditch on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.