down and dirty
1. Vicious or ruthless. Once this campaign gets down and dirty, be prepared for the opposition to start verbally attacking your family members. I never thought I would get down and dirty and start a vicious rumor about someone, but I just hated this girl so much. Rugby matches are usually down and dirty. Are you up for something like that?
2. Uninhibited, especially sexually. Are you really surprised that he cheated on you? He gets down and dirty with every girl that comes in this place! I'd rather be a prude than get down and dirty with jerks that don't treat me well! I never got down and dirty with Tiffany, I swear. That was just a rumor—you can ask her!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
down and dirty
1. crude and carelessly done. (Used as an attributive.) The last time he painted the kitchen, it was a down and dirty job because he thought we were moving. Fig. coarse; mean-spirited. The campaign for governor really got down and dirty in the final week.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
down and dirty
1. Vicious, not governed by rules of decency, as in The candidates are getting down and dirty early in the campaign. [Slang; early 1980s]
2. Very earthy, uninhibitedly sexual. For example, "L.A. club people rarely get down and dirty on a dance floor" ( The New Yorker, May 21, 1990). [Late 1980s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
down and dirty
mainly AMERICAN1. If you describe a person or their behaviour as down and dirty, you mean that they behave in an unpleasant or dishonest way. If the President gets down and dirty, the Governor will give as good as he gets. Did this campaign get down and dirty?
2. Something that is down and dirty is shocking and direct but often enjoyable. Get down and dirty with Sandra Bernhard who comes to Britain with her one-woman show, Giving Till It Hurts. Adam and his dad turned me onto the real down-and-dirty stuff like Otis Clay, William Bell and Albert King.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
down and dirty
1 unprincipled; unpleasant. 2 energetically earthy, direct, or sexually explicit. North American informalFarlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
down and dirty
Unfair, vicious; also, coarse, explicit about unpleasant matters. The first usage of this colloquialism dates from the mid-1900s, as in “The neighbors were furious about the new ordinance and waged a real down and dirty fight.” The second surfaced a decade or two later, as in the film entitled Down and Dirty (1976), a black comedy about a depraved family whose interests include adultery, murder, revenge, and incest.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer