dirty thoughts
1
7.2
- noun
- /ˈdɜrti θɔts/
- Offensive
:
pensamientos sucios
- Think dirty thoughts.
Because the devil keeps them preoccupied with the filth and mire of the existence that they occupy right now, keeps putting lascivious and dirty thoughts in their head.
- Because the devil keeps them preoccupied with the filth and mire of the existence that they occupy right now, keeps putting lascivious and dirty thoughts in their head.
Examples
-
Stop thinking dirty thoughts.
Fiction book (1998) -
He couldn't help having dirty thoughts when he saw her in that outfit.
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Now, you are thinking very dirty thoughts about me!
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I tell him I've got dirty thoughts.
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Shame you couldn't keep those dirty thoughts to yourself.
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He, which is not him thinking dirty thoughts directly, but you know, presumably he knows what he's about.
-
Think dirty thoughts.
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Rather, very long ago, a boy within me used to have "dirty thoughts" when, with the melting Host still on his tongue, he demurely returned from the communion rail.
Fiction book (1994) -
Because the devil keeps them preoccupied with the filth and mire of the existence that they occupy right now, keeps putting lascivious and dirty thoughts in their head.
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On the back wall were scrawled hundreds of insults, salacious messages, and desperate dirty thoughts, phone numbers for Donna, Tina, LaVerne, and Dolores, some with a word or two.
Fiction book (2001)
How Intense
- Offensive
44
6.3
- Offensive
1
7.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'sexual or indecent ideas' is directly and compositionally derived from 'dirty' (used in its figurative sense 'lewd/indecent') modifying 'thoughts'. This adjective+noun pattern is a standard, cross-linguistic construction, so a B1 learner who knows the relevant sense of 'dirty' and 'thought' will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase dirty thoughts comes from the simple picture of dirt on a mind: dirty means 'unclean' or wrong and thoughts are the ideas in your head. That's why dirty thoughts means 'sexual or indecent ideas'.