dretch

Meanings

Verb

• To vex; grill; trouble; oppress.
• To delay; linger; tarry.
• To move slowly and heavily; dawdle; loiter.

Noun

• An idle wench; a slattern.
• A person slow in the execution of a job; a dawdler.

Origin

• From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English dreċċan, from Proto-Germanic *drakjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrag-, *dʰragʰ-. Cognate with Russian раздража́ть, Sanskrit द्राघते ("to exert oneself, be tired, torment").
• From Middle English dretchen, drecchen, drechen, from Old English *dreċċan, from Proto-Germanic *drakjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreǵ-. Cognate with Scots dratch, dretch, Dutch trekken ("to draw, pull, tear, pluck, trek"), German trecken ("to draw, trek"), Danish trække ("to draw, pull"), Norwegian dråk ("stripe"), Swedish dialectal drakig, Icelandic rák ("streak").