DCHP-3

bed-rock

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

1†n.

the solid rock beneath drift or detritus.

Quotations

1864
Some strike the bed-rock pitchin' in, / And some the bed-rock canna win. . . .
1962
Where bed rock is deep and requires deep holes to be sunk, the ordinary prospector is not prepared in the summer to get to bed rock on account of water.
2an.

in get down to bed-rock, impoverished circumstances.

Quotations

1889
When the sombre shades of poverty have entered his old shack, he has in the miner's phraseology, got down to bed-rock or hard-pan. . . .
2bn.

in get down to bed-rock, simple, basic principles; fundamentals.

Quotations

1923
. . . there seemed no way of simplifying things, of getting down to bed-rock. . . .