dreich

comparative dreicher · superlative dreichest · alternative dree · alternative dreigh · alternative dreegh

1. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandExtending for a long distance or time, especially when tedious or wearisome; long-drawn-out, protracted; also, of speech or writing: unnecessarily verbose; long-winded.

   So Alec showed her the letter, 'twas long and dreich and went on and on; […]

   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 234

   Synonyms: circumlocutory, diffuse, periphrastic, palaverous, pleonastic, prolix, rigmarole, sesquipedalian · Antonyms: brief, concise, crisp, laconic, lapidary, short-winded, succinct, tight

2. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandNot enjoyable or interesting; boring, dull.

   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!

   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

   1 more example

   ["]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!"

   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

   Synonyms: banal, basic, mindless, beat, blah, commonplace, bland, boring · Antonyms: absorbing, alacrifying, awesome, banging, bracing, hot, compelling, distracting

3. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandBleak, cheerless, dismal, dreary, miserable.

   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.

   [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

   5 more 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.

   1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “Wedding Raiment”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 278

   Aweel, Wully was an unco praying kind o' man; a dreigh body, nane o' my kind, I never could abide the sight o' him; […]

   1889, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Summary of Events (continued)”, in The Master of Ballantrae. […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 22

   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.

   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

   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.

   1941 January, C[uthbert] Hamilton Ellis, “The Scottish Station”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3

   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.

   2004 June 3, Susan Hill, chapter 1, in The Various Haunts of Men (A Simon Serrailler Crime Novel), London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, page 4

   Synonyms: cheerless, comfortless, bleak, dark, morose, depressing, desolate, dire

4. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandsuitably serious or solemn
5. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandof a person: patient, stoic, tolerant, resolute
6. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandSlow, sluggish; specifically, of a person: tending to delay or procrastinate (especially when paying for something).

   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.

   1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 88

   1 more example

   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.

   1914, Neil Munro, “A Call to the North”, in The New Road, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 53

   Synonyms: dilatory, tardy, crawling, slack, slow-moving, languid, languorous, draggy · Antonyms: cursory, express, fast, expeditious, feverish, fleet, fleeting, greased lightning

7. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandOf a person: having a dejected or serious appearance or mood; dour, gloomy, moody, morose, sullen.

   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.

   1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume III (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 114

8. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandOf a task: laborious, tedious, troublesome; hence, needing concentration to understand; intricate.

   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.

   [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

   Synonyms: burdensome, taxing, toilsome

9. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandChiefly of rain: without pause or stop; continuous, incessant.

   So, after two hours' running downhill, we came out in the level valley at Glashütte. It was raining now, a thick dree rain.

   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

   Synonyms: persistent, sustained, unceasing, unending, unremitting, amaranthine, solid, ceaseless

10. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandOf weather: dreary, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.).

    Burglary with violent assault: just the thing for a dreich Thursday morning.

    1992, Ian Rankin, “Up the River”, in Strip Jack (A Thomas Dunne Book), 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, published 1994, →ISBN, page 97

    3 more 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.

    1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “The Engagement”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 40

    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.

    1969, George Mackay Brown, “Rackwick”, in An Orkney Tapestry, London: Victor Gollancz, →OCLC, page 40

    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.

    2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is Best in the Highlands”, in Rail, number 997, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 39

11. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandobsoleteOf a person: negotiating forcefully; driving a hard bargain.
12. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandobsoleteOf a place (especially a hill or mountain): difficult to get through or reach; inaccessible.

plural dreiches

1. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandcountableA tedious or troublesome task; also, the most tedious or troublesome part of a task.
2. MidlandsNorthNorthern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlanduncountableBleakness, gloom; specifically, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.) weather.