different between dreich vs dretch

English

Alternative forms

• dree, dreigh

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots dreich.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [d?i?x]

Adjective

dreich (comparative more dreich, superlative most dreich)

1. (Northern England, Scotland, Northern Ireland) Bleak, miserable, dismal, cheerless, dreary.

Related terms

• dree

Anagrams

• chider, herdic, riched

Irish

Noun

dreich f sg

1. dative singular of dreach (“front”)

Mutation

Further reading

• "dreich" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

Scots

Etymology

From Old English *dr?oh < Proto-Germanic *dreuga- (compare Proto-Germanic *dreugaz). Possibly influenced by Brythonic, e.g. Welsh drycin (“bad weather”) < drwg (“bad”) +? hin (“weather”).

Distantly cognate with English drudge, dree, and German trügen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dri?x/, /dri?ç/

Adjective

dreich (comparative mair dreich, superlative maist dreich)

1. persistent, continuous, relentless
2. slow, tardy
3. dismal, dowie, dreary, bleak
   • 2000, Matthew Fitt, But n Ben A-Go-Go, Luath 2000, p.132:

     The dreich inhuman blue on Nadia's lang-wheesht thocht-screen fizzed intae life.

4. tedious, wearisome, drawn-out
5. reluctant, tight-fisted, driving a hard bargain

Derived terms

• dreichly
• deid dreich
• dreich in the draw

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?t?

Etymology 1

From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English dre??an (“to vex, irritate, trouble, torment, torture, oppress, afflict”), from Proto-Germanic *drakjan? (“to torment”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?rag-, *d?rag?- (“to bother, torment”). Cognate with Russian ??????????? (razdražát?, “to irritate”), Sanskrit ??????? (dr?ghate, “to exert oneself, be tired, torment”).

Verb

dretch (third-person singular simple present dretches, present participle dretching, simple past and past participle dretched)

1. (transitive) To vex; grill; trouble; oppress.

Etymology 2

From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English *dre??an (“to draw out, delay, linger”), from Proto-Germanic *drakjan? (“to draw, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?re?- (“to pull, drag, scratch”). Cognate with Scots dratch, dretch (“to dawdle”), Dutch trekken (“to draw, pull, tear, pluck, trek”), German trecken (“to draw, trek”), Danish trække (“to draw, pull”), Norwegian dråk (“stripe”), Swedish dialectal drakig (“striped, streaked”), Icelandic rák (“streak”).

Alternative forms

• draitch, drich (Scotland)

Verb

dretch (third-person singular simple present dretches, present participle dretching, simple past and past participle dretched)

1. (intransitive) To delay; linger; tarry.
2. (intransitive, Britain dialectal, Scotland) To move slowly and heavily; dawdle; loiter.

Noun

dretch (plural dretches)

1. An idle wench; a slattern.
2. (Britain dialectal, Scotland) A person slow in the execution of a job; a dawdler.