dirtinessn.
/ˈdəːtɪnɪs/ 1.
a. The quality or state of being dirty; foulness, filthiness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > [noun]
foulnessOE
uncleannessOE
filthheadc1300
foulhead1340
filtha1425
filthiness?c1425
horynessc1425
uncleanliness1502
immundicity?1541
filthhood1582
dirtiness1607
slovenliness1617
muckiness1676
turpitude1684
muck1766
dirt1774
grot1971
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice v. 17 There will come much filth and durtinesse from the horse.
1615 E. Howes Stow's Annales (new ed.) 47/2 Paris, which..was called Lutecia, because of the mudde and dirtinesse of the place wherein it standeth.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. x. 122 The wages of labour vary with..the cleanliness or dirtiness..of the employment. View more context for this quotation
1885 Law Times 30 May 74/2 To throw up a contract..on the..ground of the dirtiness of the house.
b. The quality or state of an atomic or nuclear weapon having considerable radioactive fall-out. (Cf. dirty adj. 1g) colloquial.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > [noun] > a particular species of weapon > nuclear > quality or quantity of
dirtiness1956
underkill1964
1956 Life 29 Oct. 44/2 To have any meaning, the ban would not be limited to the size of bombs..but to the amount of radioactivity they would be allowed to generate—their ‘dirtiness’.
1961 Guardian 25 Oct. 2/5 Asked if the explosion..was of a ‘dirty’ bomb, he replied..‘The question of “dirtiness” does not bear a direct relation to yield.’
1961 Daily Tel. 31 Oct. 22/5 Fall-out from last week's test is expected to reach Britain tomorrow. It may give an indication of the ‘dirtiness’ or otherwise of Russia's latest hydrogen weapons.
2. Uncleanness of language; sordidness of action.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > [noun] > quality or condition of being profane
scurrility?a1513
profanity1563
dirtiness1649
smuttiness1688
foulmouthedness1833
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > foulness or filth > [noun] > of action
dirtiness1649
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > [noun] > moral sordidness
mirec1400
sordidity1584
dirta1625
dirtiness1649
sordidness1656
sleaziness1727
sordor1823
seediness1852
squalor1860
sleaze1967
1649 T. Fuller Just Mans Funeral 22 Let not the dimness of our eyes be esteemed the durtiness of his actions.
a1677 I. Barrow Several Serm. Evil-speaking (1678) i. 35 Degenerate wantonness and dirtiness of Speech.
1742 H. Walpole Let. 3 Mar. in Lett. to H. Mann (1833) I. 109 You know I am above such dirtiness.
1856 F. E. Paget Owlet of Owlstone Edge 74 The darkness and the dirtiness of the money-loving mind.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1896; most recently modified version published online September 2020).
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n.1607