English Explanatory Dictionary

dretch

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To vex; grill; trouble; oppress.
verb
  1. To delay; linger; tarry.
  2. To move slowly and heavily; dawdle; loiter.
noun
  1. An idle wench; a slattern.
  2. A person slow in the execution of a job; a dawdler.

Word forms

dretch dretches dretching dretched draitch drich

Etymology

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”).

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