Definition of "ditch"

Ditches continued to be employed as the sole defensive measure at many sites even after wall building began to emerge. For example, an immense ditch varying between 15 and 20 meters in width and marked by depths of 2.5 to 3.8 meters has recently been discovered in Hubei near Sui-chou.

2011, Ralph D. Sawyer, Ancient Chinese Warfare‎, Basic Books, page 30

You flung a ditch on my visionOf beauty, love and truth.O stony grey soil of MonaghanYou burgled my bank of youth!

c. 1947, Patrick Kavanagh, “Stony Grey Soil”, Poetry Selections, in Ireland Study Abroad‎, University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University, archived from the original on 14 March 2021, page 1

The original ditches were created by digging trenches, as boundaries and/or irrigation. But to the English, the ditch is the trench. Whereas in Ireland, the ditch is the raised bank of earth and the hedgerow on top. (As for the trench, where I come from that’s a sheugh).

2013 October 31, Frank McNally, “When Anglophone lines get crossed”, in The Irish Times‎, Dublin: Irish Times Trust, archived from the original on 14 March 2021

"No, instead, it just had enough power to transform me, overload, and force me to wait to change back! I had to ditch school!"

2005 December 2, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Friday, Dec 2, 2005