dretch

• Rhymes: -ɛtʃ

From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English dreċċan (“to vex, irritate, trouble, torment, torture, oppress, afflict”), from Proto-Germanic *drakjaną (“to torment”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrag-, *dʰragʰ- (“to bother, torment”). Cognate with Russian раздража́ть (razdražátʹ, “to irritate”), Sanskrit द्राघते (drāghate, “to exert oneself, be tired, torment”).

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

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

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”).

• draitch, drich (Scotland)

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.

dretch (plural dretches)

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