dreich

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English[edit]

WOTD – 26 January 2024

Etymology[edit]

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”),[1] 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],[2] from Old English *drēog, drēoh (“earnest; fit; sober”), and then probably partly:[3]

The noun is probably partly derived:

  • from the adjective;[4] and
  • borrowed from Scots dreich (“dreariness, gloom”) (rare),[1] probably from Middle English dri, drie (“annoyance, trouble; grief; period of time”) [and other forms], possibly from dri, drie (adjective) (see above).[5]

(Compare Old English ġedrēog (“seemliness; seriousness, sobriety; something appropriate or required”, noun), which did not survive into Middle English.)[4]

cognates

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

dreich (comparative dreicher, superlative dreichest) (Northern England, North Midlands, Northern Ireland, Scotland)

  1. 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.
    (long-winded): Synonyms: see Thesaurus:verbose
    (long-winded): Antonyms: see Thesaurus:concise
  2. Not enjoyable or interesting; boring, dull.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:boring
    Antonyms: see Thesaurus:exciting
    • 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:
      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!
    • 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:
      ["]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!"
  3. Bleak, cheerless, dismal, dreary, miserable.
    • 1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “Wedding Raiment”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 278:
      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.
    • 1889, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Summary of Events (continued)”, in The Master of Ballantrae. […], London, Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 22:
      Aweel, Wully was an unco praying kind o' man; a dreigh body, nane o' my kind, I never could abide the sight o' him; […]
    • [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:
      The dreichest saul could see he had sunlicht in his ee, / And there's no his marrow left in the toun.
      The most cheerless soul could see he had sunlight in his eye, / And there's none his equal left in the town.]
    • 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:
      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.
    • 1941 January, C[uthbert] Hamilton Ellis, “The Scottish Station”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:
      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.
    • 2004 June 3, Susan Hill, chapter 1, in The Various Haunts of Men (A Simon Serrailler Crime Novel), London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, page 4:
      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.
    • 2020 February 11, Douglas Stuart, chapter 25, in Shuggie Bain, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, →ISBN, page 336:
      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.
  4. Slow, sluggish; specifically, of a person: tending to delay or procrastinate (especially when paying for something).
    Synonyms: dilatory, tardy; see also Thesaurus:slow
    Antonyms: see Thesaurus:speedy
  5. Of a person: having a dejected or serious appearance or mood; dour, gloomy, moody, morose, sullen.
  6. Of a task: laborious, tedious, troublesome; hence, needing concentration to understand; intricate.
    Synonyms: burdensome, taxing, toilsome
    • [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:
      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.
  7. Chiefly of rain: without pause or stop; continuous, incessant.
    Synonyms: persistent, sustained, unceasing, unending, unremitting; see also Thesaurus:continuous
    • 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:
      So, after two hours' running downhill, we came out in the level valley at Glashütte. It was raining now, a thick dree rain.
  8. Of weather: dreary, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.).
  9. (obsolete)
    1. Of a person: negotiating forcefully; driving a hard bargain.
    2. Of a place (especially a hill or mountain): difficult to get through or reach; inaccessible.

Alternative forms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

extending for a long distance or time, especially when tedious or wearisome — see long-drawn-out,‎ protracted
of speech or writing: unnecessarily verbose — see long-winded
not enjoyable or interesting — see boring,‎ dull
bleak, cheerless, dismal, dreary, miserable — see dreary,‎ miserable
slow, sluggish — see slow
of a person: tending to delay or procrastinate — see dilatory
of a person: having a dejected or serious appearance or mood — see gloomy,‎ sullen
of a task: laborious, tedious, troublesome — see laborious,‎ tedious,‎ troublesome
needing concentration to understand — see intricate
chiefly of rain: without pause or stop — see continuous,‎ incessant
of weather: dreary, gloomy — see dreary,‎ gloomy

Noun[edit]

dreich (countable and uncountable, plural dreiches)

  1. (countable, Northern England, North Midlands) A tedious or troublesome task; also, the most tedious or troublesome part of a task.
  2. (uncountable, Scotland) Bleakness, gloom; specifically, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.) weather.

Translations[edit]

bleakness, gloom — see bleakness,‎ gloom
gloomy weather — see bad weather

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “dreich, adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
  2. ^ “drī(e, adj.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ^ “dreich, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “dreich, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 “dreich, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  5. ^ “drī(e, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Irish[edit]

Noun[edit]

dreich f sg

  1. dative singular of dreach (“front”)

Mutation[edit]

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
dreich dhreich ndreich
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading[edit]

Scots[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English dregh, from Old English ġedrēog, *drēog, from Proto-West Germanic *dreug, from 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[edit]

Adjective[edit]

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, published 2000, page 132:
      The dreich inhuman blue on Nadia's lang-wheesht thocht-screen fizzed intae life.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  4. tedious, wearisome, drawn-out
  5. reluctant, tight-fisted, driving a hard bargain

Derived terms[edit]

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