13 February 2016
detritus
[dih-trahy-tuh s]
noun
1. rock in small particles or other material worn or broken away from a mass, as by the action of water or glacial ice.
2. any disintegrated material; debris.
Origin of detritus
French
1785-1795; < French détritus < Latin: a rubbing away, equivalent to dētrī-, variant stem of dēterere to wear down, rub off ( de- de- + terere to rub) + -tus suffix of v. action
Related forms
detrital, adjective
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for detritus
Contemporary Examples
And then she came up with the idea of asking him to fiddle with his collection of detritus.
Tacita Dean’s ‘Five Americans’ Captures a Quiet Brilliance
Blake Gopnik
May 6, 2012
Perhaps Pappy fans are so insatiable that they even want the detritus of their favorite tot.
The Cult of Pappy van Winkle
Eric Felten
December 2, 2014
Her fantastical accumulations of detritus and throwaway goods can seem to pack more whimsy than wallop.
America Swamped by Its Plenty
Blake Gopnik
May 28, 2013
The artist is drinking beer, smoking and the detritus is building up around him.
The Biennale’s Best
Paul Laster, Bettina Von Hase
June 17, 2009
Amidst the detritus of old amplifiers, beaten up electric guitars and drum kits was a tatty white plastic bag.
The Lost Madonna Tapes
Andrew Morton
October 19, 2008
Historical Examples
By some unknown convulsion, this detritus had been heaped up.
Fragments of science, V. 1-2
John Tyndall
Death is only real for all the detritus of the world, for all the sorrow, for all the injustice, for all the grief.
The Octopus
Frank Norris
What an inconceivable tangle of detritus those streets must be!
Darkness and Dawn
George Allan England
The mouth of the Dranse, hard by, is a dreary collection of detritus.
Lausanne
Francis Henry Gribble
The soil, composed of sand and that detritus which abounds in American forests, gave way beneath the foot.
Last of the Incas
Gustave Aimard
Anagram
die trust
edits rut
Today’s quote
The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.
– William James
On this day
13 February 1915 – birth of General Aung San, founder of modern day Burma and Burmese Army. Father of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, activist and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient.
13 February 1920 – the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland is recognised by the League of Nations (predecessor of the United Nations).
13 – 15 February 1945 – the bombing of Dresden in which 722 British and 527 USAF aircraft drop more than 3,900 tons of explosives on Dresden, Germany. At the time, Nazi Germany claimed more than 300,000 casualties, however, an official report in 2010 claimed that casualties were around 25,000, historians generally number the casualties between 35,000 and 135,000. Because of the number of refugees in the city, it is unlikely the exact figure will ever be known.
13 February 2008 – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologises to Australia’s indigenous peoples, particularly those of the stolen generation from whom children were forcibly removed from their parents.