dishwater

[dish-waw-ter, -wot-er] /ˈdɪʃˌwɔ tər, -ˌwɒt ər/
noun
1.
water in which dishes are, or have been, washed.
Idioms
2.
dull as dishwater / ditchwater, extremely dull; boring.
Origin
1475-85; dish + water
British Dictionary definitions for dull as dishwater

dishwater

/ˈdɪʃˌwɔːtə/
noun
1.
water in which dishes and kitchen utensils are or have been washed
2.
something resembling this: that was dishwater, not coffee
Word Origin and History for dull as dishwater

dishwater

n.

also dish-water, "water where dishes have been washed," late 15c., from dish (n.) + water (n.). Used figuratively of weak broth, coffee, etc., from 1719.

Slang definitions & phrases for dull as dishwater

dull as dishwater

adjective phrase

Very tedious and unexciting; boring: The sermon today was dull as dishwater, Your Eminence

[1940s+; the original form, and current British form, is dull as ditchwater, attested by the 1840s]


dishwater

noun

Weak and scarcely drinkable soup, coffee, etc (1719+)

Related Terms

dull as dishwater


Idioms and Phrases with dull as dishwater

dull as dishwater

Boring, tedious, as in That lecture was dull as dishwater. The original simile, dull as ditchwater, dating from the 1700s, alluded to the muddy water in roadside ditches. In the first half of the 1900s, perhaps through mispronunciation, it became dishwater, that is, the dingy, grayish water in which dirty dishes had soaked.

dishwater

see: dull as dishwater