Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US tramp) to throw off a (moving) train.

1894		J. London Tramp Diary in Jack London On the Road (1979) 31: They were forced to stop the train twice before they succeeded in ditching us. [Ibid.] 32: I don’t want to be ditched at some lone water tank.
1907		J. London Road 24: Barring accidents, a good hobo, with youth and agility, can hold a train down despite all the efforts of the train-crew to ‘ditch’ him.
1913		L. Light Modern Hobo 44: I got ditched in a one-horse town.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 302: Ditch, or Be Ditched — [...] The term is also applied to being put off trains and being locked in cars.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 63: DITCH. – [...] to put off a train by force or threat.

2. to ruin, to stand in the way of a plan.

1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 361: ‘Fatty,’ I said, ‘we’re ditched.’ ‘Ditched yer grandmother! What’s the matter?’.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 302: Ditch, or Be Ditched — to fail in an undertaking; to fall into trouble.

3. of people and objects, to throw away, to dispense with, to abandon; to end a relationship with.

1897		Eldridge & Watts Our Rival, the Rascal 84: [T]hey stole a handcar and rode to Brewster [...] There they ditched the car and went across the country to Carmel .
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 24: If he would only speak and forgive me for ditching him.
1915		S. Ford Shorty McCabe on the Job 4: ‘Ah, ditch the sarcasm,’ says I.
1919		(con. 1900) Journal Amer. Instit. of Criminal Law and Criminology X Jan. 62–70: In 1915 they caught me the same way. Some one tipped me off and they caught me in the crowd. I could not ditch the stuff, so they grabbed me.
1924		‘Digit’ Confessions of a Twentieth Century Hobo 73: Take a tip, ditch the rest of those eats.
1926		Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 122: I thought of writing a story about a coloured girl in love with a white boy and how he ditched her.
1930		E. Glyn Flirt and Flapper 64: Flapper: I’ve got to make up my mind if I’ll dine with Jim Burly [...] or ditch him.
1935		R. Chandler ‘Nevada Gas’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 136: Listen, Francy. When do you ditch this gambler and let me set you up?
1937		C. Drew ‘Abdul’ in Bulletin 29 Dec. 8/1: After I’d been ditched by that wrestlin’ feller Zolo I swore I’d shy off grapplers for the rest of me life.
1941		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 2: The girls he would dazzle, / And fuck to a frazzle, / And then ditch them, the son-of-a-bitch!
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 170: As soon as we hit The Big Apple we’ll ditch the buggy.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 216: If we go out and get ditched, it’d be worse’n if we never went out.
1953		‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 19: ‘Who is it?’ ‘My boss.’ [...] Can’t you ditch him?’.
1959		W. Hall Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: johnstone: What? With him in tow? / mitchem: No... We’re ditching him.
1963		A.S. Fleischman Venetian Blonde (2006) 176: Could Antony ditch Cleopatra? [...] Did Tristan cut out on Isolde?
1964		Batman No. 163 4: I can ditch it when necessary! Ha! Ha!
1967		J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 36: We won’t look too innocent if we ditch the car and shoot through on top of everything.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 122: Has my old man ditched me again?
1977		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Black Gangster (1991) 74: All he had to do was drop them peckerwoods off and ditch that goddam car.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 105: I ditch the gun under the front bumper of a parked car.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 254: Chris doesn’t know I’m here [...] I ditched her.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 3: Meeks ditched his car in a pine grove.
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 283: Graham ditched Sandra, but she wouldn’t stay ditched by him.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Real Life 23 Jan. 3: He ditched the day job.
2002		D.H. Sterry Chicken (2003) 92: That cold underneath feeling of being ditched by Jade.
1993		G. Disher Deathdeal [ebook] ‘Ditch the family, become a free man’.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] I can’t believe you brought this car [...] We’re gonna have to ditch it.
2012		M. McBride Frank Sinatra in a Blender [ebook] Other guy ditched the bread truck here.
2016		V. McDermid Out of Bounds (2017) 57: She was getting a lot more support with the kids, now she’d ditched Victor.
2017		L. McInerney Blood Miracles : You fucking ditched me, you pushed me away.
2018		G. Disher Kill Shot [ebook] She thought of what she might do with Jack’s running-away money [...] steal it with William’s help, then ditch him.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 203: Will Lizzie ditch her? Will she be left alone with Ralph?

4. (US) to drink.

1909

J. Washburn Und. Sewer 168: There are all kinds of inducements for the girls to become drunkards, as it is sold in all houses [...] and the girls are required to drink, or ‘ditch it’ in order to keep up the expenses of the ‘house’.

5. (US Und.) to be sent to prison.

1920		F. Williams Hop-Heads 76: He got a ‘rumble,’ too. Came near to being ‘ditched.’ But the ‘fall dough’ saved him.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Ditched, sentenced to prison.

6. (US tramp) to hide (something).

1920		F. Williams Hop-Heads 55: I [...] left the house with the package ‘ditched’ in the lining of my coat.
1931–4		D. Clemmer Prison Community (1940) 331/2: ditch, vt. To cache or hide loot.

7. (US) to leave in a hurry.

1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 403: Ditch. To depart [...] To ditch out before an arrest.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 106: Ditch Leave a place.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 156: We’ll ditch Mexico tomorrow.

8. (US teen/campus) to play truant from school.

1936		J.T. Farrell World I Never Made 218: Ditch school, and come along downtown with me.
1969		(ref. to 1950s) ‘Cupid’s Story’ in R.L. Keiser Vice Lords 58: I never did go to school during that time. I ditched school.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 41: I was ditchin’ a lot.
1996		Eble Campus Sl. Mar.
2002		J. Ellroy ‘Where I Get My Weird Shit’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 36: I ditched school every day.