English

Verb

dretch ‎(third-person singular simple present dretches, present participle dretching, simple past and past participle dretched)

1. (transitive) To vex; grill; trouble; oppress.

Etymology 2

From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English *dreċċan ‎(“to draw out, delay, linger”), from Proto-Germanic *drakjaną ‎(“to draw, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreǵ- ‎(“to pull, drag, scratch”). Cognate with Scots dratch, dretch ‎(“to dawdle”), Dutch trekken ‎(“to draw, pull, tear, pluck, trek”), German trecken ‎(“to draw, trek”), Danish trække ‎(“to draw, pull”), Norwegian dråk ‎(“stripe”), Swedish dialectal drakig ‎(“striped, streaked”), Icelandic rák ‎(“streak”).

Alternative forms

• draitch, drich (Scotland)

Verb

dretch ‎(third-person singular simple present dretches, present participle dretching, simple past and past participle dretched)

1. (intransitive) To delay; linger; tarry.
2. (intransitive, Britain dialectal, Scotland) To move slowly and heavily; dawdle; loiter.

Noun

dretch ‎(plural dretches)

1. An idle wench; a slattern.
2. (Britain dialectal, Scotland) A person slow in the execution of a job; a dawdler.