different between dretch vs drench

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.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English drenchen, from Old English dren?an, from Proto-Germanic *drankijan? (compare Dutch drenken ‘to get a drink’, German tränken ‘to water, give a drink’), causative of *drinkan? (“to drink”). More at drink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??nt?/
• Rhymes: -?nt?

Noun

drench (plural drenches)

1. A draught administered to an animal.
2. (obsolete) A drink; a draught; specifically, a potion of medicine poured or forced down the throat; also, a potion that causes purging.

   • A drench of wine has with success been us'd,
     And through a horn the gen'rous juice infus'd,
     Which, timely taken, op'd his closing jaws,
     But, if too late, the patient's death did cause.

   • 1907, Mark Twain, Christian Science and the Book of Mrs. Eddy

     I took up the 'Christian Scientist' book and read half of it, then took a dipperful of drench and read the other half.

Translations

Verb

drench (third-person singular simple present drenches, present participle drenching, simple past and past participle drenched)

1. To soak, to make very wet.

   • Now dam the ditches and the floods restrain; / Their moisture has already drenched the plain.

2. To cause to drink; especially, to dose (e.g. a horse) with medicine by force.

Related terms

• drenched (adjective)
• drenching (noun)

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English dreng, from Old English dreng (“warrior, soldier”), from Proto-Germanic *drangijaz, cognate to Old Norse drengr.

Noun

drench (plural drenches)

1. (obsolete, Britain) A military vassal, mentioned in the Domesday Book.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)