dreich
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: simple
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”)
Inflected forms:
form: dreicher
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: dreichest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: dree
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: dreigh
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: dreegh
pos: adj
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: 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.
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
examples: So Alec showed her the letter, 'twas long and dreich and went on and on; […]
gloss: Not enjoyable or interesting; boring, dull.
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
examples: 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!
["]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!"
gloss: Bleak, cheerless, dismal, dreary, miserable.
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
examples: 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: suitably serious or solemn
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
gloss: of a person: patient, stoic, tolerant, resolute
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
gloss: Slow, sluggish; specifically, of a person: tending to delay or procrastinate (especially when paying for something).
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
examples: 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.
gloss: Of a person: having a dejected or serious appearance or mood; dour, gloomy, moody, morose, sullen.
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
examples: 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.
gloss: Of a task: laborious, tedious, troublesome; hence, needing concentration to understand; intricate.
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
examples: 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.
gloss: Chiefly of rain: without pause or stop; continuous, incessant.
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
examples: So, after two hours' running downhill, we came out in the level valley at Glashütte. It was raining now, a thick dree rain.
gloss: Of weather: dreary, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.).
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
examples: 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.
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.
gloss: Of a person: negotiating forcefully; driving a hard bargain.
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
obsolete
gloss: Of a place (especially a hill or mountain): difficult to get through or reach; inaccessible.
pos: adj
tags: Midlands
North
Northern-England
Northern-Ireland
Scotland
obsolete
Derived words: dree
dreichly
Translations: