dreich
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɹiːk/
ipa: /dɹiːx/
ipa: /dɹik/
ipa: /drix/
ipa: /ðreː/
ipa: /driːx/
rhymes: -iːk
rhymes: -iːx
Forms: form: dreicher
form: dreichest
form: dree
form: dreigh
form: dreegh
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”)
Senses: examples: text: So Alec showed her the letter, 'twas long and dreich and went on and on; […]
ref: 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon [pseudonym; James Leslie Mitchell], “Epilude: The Unfurrowed Field”, in Ian Campbell, editor, Sunset Song: A Novel (A Scots Quair; 1), Edinburgh: Polygon, Birlinn, published 2006, →ISBN, page 234:
synonyms: word: circumlocutory
word: diffuse
word: periphrastic
word: palaverous
word: pleonastic
word: prolix
word: rigmarole
word: sesquipedalian
word: verbose
word: wordy
antonyms: word: verbose
glosses: 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.
examples: text: 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!
ref: 1786, Robert Burns, “The Auld Farmer’s New-year Morning Salutation to His Auld Mare, Maggie, on Giving Her the Accustomed Ripp of Corn to Hansel in the New-year”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 198:
text: ["]My life is a bit driegh," says he, pouring out the brandy; "I see little company, and sit and twirl my thumbs, and mind upon a great day that is gone by, and weary for another great day that we all hope will be upon the road. And so here's a toast to ye: The Restoration!"
ref: 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Cluny’s Cage”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 225:
synonyms: word: banal
word: beat
word: blah
word: bland
word: boring
word: cold
word: colourless
word: drab
word: dreich
word: drowsy
word: dull
word: dull as dishwater
word: flat
word: ho-hum
word: humdrum
word: insipid
word: lackluster
word: lame
word: languid
word: lifeless
word: longsome
word: monotonous
word: mundane
word: no fun at parties
word: plain
word: plodding
word: prosaic
word: prosy
word: pedantic
word: pedestrian
word: static
word: straightforward
word: snoozeworthy
word: soporific
word: tedious
word: uncool
word: wan
word: weaksauce
word: wooden
word: uninteresting
word: stodgy
word: vapid
word: vanilla
antonyms: word: boring
word: calming
word: nonexciting
word: restful
word: relaxing
word: unexciting
word: wearisome
glosses: Not enjoyable or interesting; boring, dull.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “Wedding Raiment”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 278:
text: Aweel, Wully was an unco praying kind o' man; a dreigh body, nane o' my kind, I never could abide the sight o' him; […]
ref: 1889, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Summary of Events (continued)”, in The Master of Ballantrae. […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 22:
text: The dreichest saul could see he had sunlicht in his ee, / And there's no his marrow left in the toun.
ref: [1917, John Buchan, “[Theocritus in Scots.] The Kirn (Idyll vii).”, in Poems: Scots and English (in Scots), London; Edinburgh: T. C. & E. C. Jack, →OCLC, book I (Scots), page 38:
english: The most cheerless soul could see he had sunlight in his eye, / And there's none his equal left in the town.
translation: The most cheerless soul could see he had sunlight in his eye, / And there's none his equal left in the town.
bold_translation_offsets: 4
18
text: It looked a dreich, cold place as you rode by at night, near as lonesome as the old Mill was, and not near as handy.
ref: 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon [pseudonym; James Leslie Mitchell], “Epilude: The Unfurrowed Field”, in Ian Campbell, editor, Sunset Song: A Novel (A Scots Quair; 1), Edinburgh: Polygon, Birlinn, published 2006, →ISBN, page 235:
text: There are many other species of Scottish station, from geranium-hung coastal termini to dreich places in the Black Country, but a concluding note must be reached, and it shall concern Glasgow.
ref: 1941 January, C[uthbert] Hamilton Ellis, “The Scottish Station”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:
text: Angela Randall was not afraid of the dark, but driving home at this dreich hour and at the end of a difficult shift, she found the ectoplasmic fog unnerving.
ref: 2004 June 3, Susan Hill, chapter 1, in The Various Haunts of Men (A Simon Serrailler Crime Novel), London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, page 4:
text: On dreich days Shuggie would take Agnes's wedding album and hide at the foot of her bed poring over the photos of his father.
ref: 2020 February 11, Douglas Stuart, chapter 25, in Shuggie Bain, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, →ISBN, page 336:
synonyms: word: cheerless
word: comfortless
word: bleak
word: dark
word: depressing
word: desolate
word: dire
word: disconsolate
word: dismal
word: doleful
word: dolesome
word: drear
word: drearisome
word: dreary
word: dreich
word: forlorn
word: gayless
word: gray
word: gloomsome
word: gloomy
word: grim
word: joyless
word: lack-laughter
word: lugubrious
word: melancholy
word: mirthless
word: miserable
word: no joke
word: saturnine
word: solemn
word: somber
word: sombre
word: spiritless
word: sullen
word: sunless
word: uncheerful
word: uncheery
word: unhappy
word: unmerry
word: wintry
word: woeful
glosses: Bleak, cheerless, dismal, dreary, miserable.
glosses: suitably serious or solemn
glosses: of a person: patient, stoic, tolerant, resolute
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 88:
text: 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.
ref: 1914, Neil Munro, “A Call to the North”, in The New Road, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 53:
synonyms: word: dilatory
word: tardy
word: crawling
word: languid
word: languorous
word: draggy
word: creeping
word: dreich
word: gastropodous
word: glacial
word: heavy-footed
word: inching
word: inert
word: labored
word: leaden
word: lead-footed
word: lethargic
word: low-speed
word: lumbering
word: plodding
word: pokey
word: ponderous
word: slothlike
word: slow
word: slow as a snail
word: slow as Christmas
word: slow as molasses
word: slow as molasses in January
word: slowfooted
word: sluggish
word: stately
word: steady
word: subglacial
word: sullen
word: tardigrade
word: tedious
word: testudineous
word: torpid
word: unspeedy
antonyms: word: slow
glosses: Slow, sluggish; specifically, of a person: tending to delay or procrastinate (especially when paying for something).
examples: text: There they are that were capering on their prancing nags four days since, and they are now ganging as driegh and sober as oursells the day.
ref: 1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume III (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 114:
glosses: Of a person: having a dejected or serious appearance or mood; dour, gloomy, moody, morose, sullen.
examples: text: Right above your head some thing towered up with branching arms in the flow of the lights; and you saw that it was a cross of stone, overlaid with curlecues, strange, dreich signs, like the banners of the Roman robbers of men whom you'd preached against in Zion last night.
ref: [1934], Lewis Grassic Gibbon [pseudonym; James Leslie Mitchell], “Forsaken”, in Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Hugh MacDiarmid [pseudonym; Christopher Murray Grieve], Scottish Scene or The Intelligent Man’s Guide to Albyn, London; Melbourne: National Book Association; Hutchinson & Co., →OCLC, 4th section, page 149:
synonyms: burdensome
taxing
toilsome
glosses: Of a task: laborious, tedious, troublesome; hence, needing concentration to understand; intricate.
examples: text: So, after two hours' running downhill, we came out in the level valley at Glashütte. It was raining now, a thick dree rain.
ref: a. 1931 (date written), D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “A Hay Hut among the Mountains”, in Warren Roberts, Harry T. Moore, editors, Phoenix II: Uncollected, Unpublished, and Other Prose Works by D. H. Lawrence […], Viking Compass edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, published 1970, →ISBN, part I (Stories and Sketches), page 43:
synonyms: word: persistent
word: sustained
word: unceasing
word: unending
word: unremitting
word: amaranthine
word: ceaseless
word: constant
word: continual
word: continuate
word: continuous
word: dreich
raw_tags: of rain
word: endless
word: eternal
word: everlasting
word: extended
word: incessant
word: infinite
word: never-ending
word: nonstop
word: ongoing
word: perpetual
word: persistent
word: relentless
word: steady
word: still
word: termless
word: unbroken
word: unceasing
word: unending
word: unintermitted
word: uninterrupted
word: unremitting
word: lasting
word: permanent
word: uniform
glosses: Chiefly of rain: without pause or stop; continuous, incessant.
examples: text: To be sure, t' winter's been a dree season, and thou'rt, maybe, in the right on't to make a late start.
ref: 1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “The Engagement”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 40:
text: 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.
ref: 1969, George Mackay Brown, “Rackwick”, in An Orkney Tapestry, London: Victor Gollancz, →OCLC, page 40:
text: Burglary with violent assault: just the thing for a dreich Thursday morning.
ref: 1992, Ian Rankin, “Up the River”, in Strip Jack (A Thomas Dunne Book), 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, published 1994, →ISBN, page 97:
text: Up here, it’s a ‘dreich’ day with steady drizzle. Deep drainage channels either side of the track are already more like streams: Rannoch Moor is a wet place.
ref: 2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is Best in the Highlands”, in Rail, number 997, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 39:
glosses: Of weather: dreary, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.).
glosses: Of a person: negotiating forcefully; driving a hard bargain.
glosses: Of a place (especially a hill or mountain): difficult to get through or reach; inaccessible.
Derived terms: word: dree
word: dreichly