Barrow ditch

[Mark Odegard]

> Mark Odegard writes:
> >It refers to the ditch  alongside a highway. A web search
> >conclusively demonstrates that this is in  active usage.
Oddly,
> >'barrow ditch' seems undocumented by the dictionaries. <
>
> Isn't this probably  just a variant on the more familiar
"borrow pit"  ?
> ...of which the OED says:  the pit from which material is
taken to form an
> enbankment.
> A. Murie

Merriam Webster gives 1893 for 'borrow pit'. What's OED's
date?

All All the Web search, http://www.bos2.alltheweb.com/, on
"borrow pit" returned 2618 hits. I was completely unfamiliar
with this term too, but it seems standard, albeit one of
relatively recent date.

Nonetheless, the phonetic and semantic closeness to 'barrow'
and 'burrow' makes one suspect 'borrow' is a reinterpretation,
a la 'catty-corner' for 'cater-corner'. I don't have access to
OED or DARE.

My web search did turn up on British site describing an actual
archaeological barrow, and spoke of the ditch surrounding it
as a barrow ditch.