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dung Definition

dung (duŋ)

noun

  1. animal excrement; manure
  2. filth

Etymology: ME & OE, prob. identical with dung, a prison, orig., cellar covered with dung for warmth, as in OS dung, OHG tung, cellar where women weave < IE base *dheng-, to cover

transitive verb

to spread or cover with dung, as in fertilizing

dung Synonyms

dung

n.

offal, excrement, manure, guano, fertilizer, night soil, compost, droppings, excreta, chips, pellets, spoor, evidence, leavings, muck, ordure, feces, filth, garbage, sludge, slop, sewage, cowflop*, cowpat*, cowpie*, pancakes*, road apples*, buttons*; see also excrement, fertilizer.

dung Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • burn: In the middle is a stove where they burn the yak dung.
  • dry: A carefully constructed mound of dried dung provides fuel that would also once have come at the expense of local trees.
  • spread: Players then have to spread the dung on their plants to see how much food they can produce for the village.
  • collect: The cows were facing the wall and a large gutter served to collect both cow dung and bedding straw.
  • remove: Scrape / remove dung from channel at least once daily.

Adjective modifier

  • camel: You may find yourself gathering camel dung to put on the fire.
  • fresh: Toward evening of the third day we even found fairly fresh dung.
  • animal: Animal dung can change the plants growing in a meadow.

Modifies a noun

  • beetle: A cow pat is heaven to a dung beetle.
  • heap: The word started life meaning dung heap, then later refuse or rubbish heap.
  • cart: Monday 20th May A dung cart goes past the window with a shovel stuck in the top.
  • pellet: The males provide the dung pellets for the female to bury.
  • pile: Our llamas mostly consider the whole field their communal dung pile.
  • pit: They form very close social groups, each group having its own territorial boundary which is marked out with dung pits ( latrines ).

Noun used with modifier

  • yak: In the middle is a stove where they burn the yak dung.
  • cow: The cow dung attracts insects which provide a food source for the bats.
  • elephant: Fact: Did you know that a single elephant dung pat can attract 4,000 dung beetles in 30 minutes?
  • cattle: The largest party seen in 2003 was of 13 feeding among cattle dung on 4 October.
  • lion: These pellets have been soaked in real lion dung - cats are terrified of lions.
  • horse: Tomorrow I'm having a trailer full of horse dung delivered from a local farm.
dung Quotes

It is better to sniff France's dung for a while than eat China's all our lives. 405

—Ho Chi Minh originally NguyenThatThanh

   In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half-hung, The floors of plaister, and the walls of dung, On once a flock-bed, but repaired with straw, With tape-tied curtains, never meant to draw, The George and Garter dangling from that bed Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red, Great Villiers lies.

—Pope, Alexander

Gula carum tributem exigit, sed vilissimum reddit, quia quanto sunt delicaciora cibavia, tanto fetidiora sunt stercora. Gluttony demands a heavy tribute but gives the basest returns: the more delicate the food, the more reeking the dung.

—Pope Innocent III originally Lotario de' Conti di Segni

O wombe! O bely! O stynkyng cod Fulfilled of dong and of corrupcioun!

—Chaucer, Geoffrey

Browse dictionary entries near dung

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  1. dung beetle
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