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dreich

adj
/dɹiːk/UK/dɹik/US/drix/

Etymology

The adjective is borrowed from Scots dreich (“hard to bear, dreary, tedious, wearisome; interminable, long-winded; dull, uninteresting; slow, tardy; doleful, gloomy; baffling, difficult; difficult to reach, inaccessible”), from Middle English dregh, dri, drie (“burdensome; depressing, dismal; large, tall; lasting, long; long-suffering, patient; tedious; of blows: hard, heavy; of the face: unchanging, unmoved; of a person: strong, valorous”) [and other forms], from Old English *drēog, drēoh (“earnest; fit; sober”), and then probably partly: * shortened from Old English ġedrēog (“calm, quiet; sober; fit, suitable”, adjective), from ġe- (prefix forming adjectives of association or similarity) + Proto-Germanic *dreugaz (“enduring, lasting”) (from *dreuganą (“to serve, be a retainer”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to serve one’s tribe; loyal”)); and * influenced by Old Norse drjúgr (“sufficient; excessive, very; great; strong”), from Proto-Germanic *dreugaz (see above). The noun is probably partly derived: * from the adjective; and * borrowed from Scots dreich (“dreariness, gloom”) (rare), probably from Middle English dri, drie (“annoyance, trouble; grief; period of time”) [and other forms], possibly from dri, drie (adjective) (see above). (Compare Old English ġedrēog (“seemliness; seriousness, sobriety; something appropriate or required”, noun), which did not survive into Middle English.) Cognates * German Low German drēg, drēge * Icelandic drjúgur (“ample; heavy, substantial; long”) * North Frisian drech * Old Danish drygh (modern Danish drøj (“heavy; solid, tough”)) * Old Swedish drygher (modern Swedish dryg (“ample, liberal; hard; large; lasting”)) * Saterland Frisian drjooch * Scots dreich * West Frisian dreech, drege (“extensive; long-lasting”)

  1. derived from dri
  2. borrowed from dreich — “dreariness, gloom”
  3. derived from *dreugaz✻
  4. derived from drjúgr — “sufficient; excessive, very; great; strong”
  5. derived from *dʰrewgʰ-✻ — “to serve one’s tribe; loyal”
  6. derived from *dreugaz✻ — “enduring, lasting”
  7. derived from ġedrēog — “calm, quiet; sober; fit, suitable”
  8. derived from *drēog✻
  9. derived from dregh
  10. borrowed from dreich — “hard to bear, dreary, tedious, wearisome; interminable, long-winded; dull, uninteresting; slow, tardy; doleful, gloomy; baffling, difficult; difficult to reach, inaccessible”

Definitions

  1. Extending for a long distance or time, especially when tedious or wearisome

    Extending for a long distance or time, especially when tedious or wearisome; long-drawn-out, protracted; also, of speech or writing: unnecessarily verbose; long-winded.

    • So Alec showed her the letter, 'twas long and dreich and went on and on; […]

  2. Not enjoyable or interesting

    Not enjoyable or interesting; boring, dull.

    • VVhen thou an' I vvere young an' ſkiegh, / An' ſtable-meals at Fairs vvere driegh, / Hovv thou vvad prance, an' ſnore, an' ſkriegh, / An' tak the road!

  3. Bleak, cheerless, dismal, dreary, miserable.

    • But he's lying i' such dree poverty,—and niver a friend to go near him,—niver a person to speak a kind word t' him.
    • Aweel, Wully was an unco praying kind o' man; a dreigh body, nane o' my kind, I never could abide the sight o' him; […]
    • The dreichest saul could see he had sunlicht in his ee, / And there's no his marrow left in the toun.
  4. ›+ 9 more definitions

    1. suitably serious or solemn

    2. of a person

      of a person: patient, stoic, tolerant, resolute

    3. Slow, sluggish

      Slow, sluggish; specifically, of a person: tending to delay or procrastinate (especially when paying for something).

      • What think ye o' yon bonny hill yonder, lifting its brow to the moon? […] [M]aybe we will win there the night yet, God sain us, though our minny [a horse] here's rather driegh in the upgang.
      • I have the bills o' men like Keppoch and Glengarry flourishing about the Lowlands in the place o' paper money; they're aye gettin' a' the dreicher at the payin', but whatever comes o't I have got them in my grasp.

    4. Of a task

      Of a task: laborious, tedious, troublesome; hence, needing concentration to understand; intricate.

    5. Chiefly of rain

      Chiefly of rain: without pause or stop; continuous, incessant.

      • So, after two hours' running downhill, we came out in the level valley at Glashütte. It was raining now, a thick dree rain.

    6. Of weather

      Of weather: dreary, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.).

      • To be sure, t' winter's been a dree season, and thou'rt, maybe, in the right on't to make a late start.
      • Days are dreicher than January. / A dead lamb is dropped in the thaw. / Yet now we are glad / For all things turn to the sun.
      • Burglary with violent assault: just the thing for a dreich Thursday morning.

    7. Of a place (especially a hill or mountain)

      Of a place (especially a hill or mountain): difficult to get through or reach; inaccessible.

    8. A tedious or troublesome task

      A tedious or troublesome task; also, the most tedious or troublesome part of a task.

    9. Bleakness, gloom

      Bleakness, gloom; specifically, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.) weather.

The neighborhood

Derived

dree, dreichly

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for dreich. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA