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Webster 1913 Edition


Dreg

Dreg

(drĕg)
,
Noun.
[Prob. from Icel.
dregg
; akin to Sw.
drägg
, cf. Icel. & Sw.
draga
to draw. Cf.
Draw
.]
Corrupt or defiling matter contained in a liquid, or precipitated from it; refuse; feculence; lees; grounds; sediment; hence, the vilest and most worthless part of anything;
as, the
dregs
of society
.
We, the
dregs
and rubbish of mankind.
Dryden.
☞ Used formerly (rarely) in the singular, as by Spenser and Shakespeare, but now chiefly in the plural.

Definition 2024


dreg

dreg

English

Noun

dreg (plural dregs)

  1. Sediment in a liquid.
  2. By extension, the lowest and most worthless part of something.

Usage notes

This term is usually used in plural: see dregs.

Quotations

  • 1602?: What makes this pretty abruption? What too curious dreg espies my sweet lady in the fountain of our love? William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida
  • 1768:O! be the cup of joy to thee consign'd, / Of joy unmix'd, without a dreg behind! William Hayley, from 'On the Fear of Death, An Epistle to a Lady, 1768', in Poems on Serious and Sacred Subjects 1818.
  • 1910: Fear and trauma may drain to the last dreg the dischargeable nervous energy, and, therefore, the greatest possible exhaustion may be produced by fear and trauma. George W. Crile. in an address delivered at the Massachusetts General Hospital 15 Oct 1910, collected in The Origin and Nature of Emotions

Translations

References

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.048

Anagrams