Define:Dreich

English

Alternative forms

• dree, dreigh

Adjective

Dreich (comparative maist Dreich, superlative maist Dreich)

1. bleak, miserable, dismal, cheerless, dreary

Quotations

• 2002, Glasgow's ambassadors receive a dreich welcome in Havana — title of article in The Scotsman, 14 Nov 2002
• 2004, but driving home at this dreich hour and at the end of a difficult shift, she found the ectoplasmic fog unnerving — Susan Hill, The Various Haunts of Men (2004) page 4.
• 2008 used in BBC Radio 4 Weather forecast as interchangeable with "dreary/dismal" 4th Nov 2008 12:57

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Scots

Etymology

From Old English *

drēoh

.

Pronunciation

• /driːx/

Adjective

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 2000, p.132:

     The dreich inhuman blue on Nadia's lang-wheesht thocht-screen fizzed intae life.

4. tedious, wearisome, drawn-out
5. reluctant, tight-fisted, driving a hard bargain

Derived terms

• dreichly
• deid dreich
• dreich in the draw