English

Noun

dregs pl ‎(plural only)

1. (collectively) The sediment settled at the bottom of a liquid; the lees in a container of unfiltered wine.
2. (figuratively, the dregs) The worst and lowest part of something.

   • the dregs of society

   • 1826, Mary Shelley, The Last Man, volume 3, chapter 9

     Yet even now I had not drunk the bitter potion to the dregs; I was not yet persuaded of my loss; I did not yet feel in every pulsation, in every nerve, in every thought, that I remained alone of my rase - that I was The Last Man.

Usage notes

• The singular form dreg is far less common, but the phrase to the last dreg still has currency.

Synonyms

• debris, deposit, draff, dross, exuviate, feculence, grounds, grouts, lees, orts, rabble, refuse, residue, residuum, riffraff, rubbish, scum, sediment, settling, trash, loser, outcast

Translations