Ridiculous notion to get various non-residents to remove dirt (8)
I believe the answer is:
nonsense
'ridiculous notion' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'various non-residents to remove dirt' is the wordplay.
'various' indicates anagramming the letters.
'to remove' suggests deleting specific letters.
'non'+'residents'='nonresidents'
'nonresidents' with 'dirt' taken out is 'nonesens'.
'nonesens' is an anagram of 'NONSENSE'.
'to get' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nonsense that I've seen before include "Farce" , "Humbug!" , "Claptrap, hogwash" , "Fiddle-faddle" , "Language without meaning" .)