Dretch
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An idle wench; a slattern.
- 2 A person slow in the execution of a job; a dawdler. Scotland, UK, dialectal
- 1 To vex; grill; trouble; oppress. obsolete, transitive
- 2 To delay; linger; tarry. intransitive, obsolete
- 3 To move slowly and heavily; dawdle; loiter. Scotland, UK, dialectal, intransitive
Synonyms
All synonymsEtymology
From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English dreċċan (“to vex, irritate, trouble, torment, torture, oppress, afflict”), from Proto-West Germanic *drakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *drakjaną (“to torment”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrag-, *dʰragʰ- (“to bother, torment”). Cognate with Russian раздража́ть (razdražátʹ, “to irritate”), Sanskrit द्राघते (drāghate, “to exert oneself, be tired, torment”).
From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English *dreċċan (“to draw out, delay, linger”), from Proto-West Germanic *drakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *drakjaną (“to draw, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreǵ- (“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”).