dreary
adjectivenounattested in dialogue
- United States//ˈdɹɪɚi//
- United States//ˈdɹiɹi//
- Australia//ˈdɹɪəɹi//
- //ˈdɹɪɹi//
Drab; dark, colorless, or cheerless.
adjective
- 1
Drab; dark, colorless, or cheerless.
It had rained for three days straight, and the dreary weather dragged the townspeople's spirits down.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary...
It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils.
The train is booked to stop at Jiza for only three minutes, but more often than not twenty minutes or more are spent on shunting before it sets off again on what must be one of the most dreary journeys in the world.
- 2
obsoleteGrievous, dire; appalling.
Etymology
From Middle English drery, from Old English drēoriġ (“sad”), from Proto-West Germanic *dreuʀag, from Proto-Germanic *dreuzagaz (“bloody”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrews- (“to break, break off, crumble”), equivalent to drear + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian trurich (“sad, dreary”), West Frisian treurich (“sad, dreary”), Dutch treurig (“sad, gloomy”), Low German trurig (“sad”), German traurig (“sad, sorrowful, mournful”), Old Norse dreyrugr, dreyrigr (“bloody, gory”), whence Icelandic dreyrugur (“bloody”). Related to Old English drēor (“blood, falling blood”), Old English drysmian (“to become gloomy”).
noun
- 1
rareA dreary person or thing.
In the glow of this project Steele manages to forget altogether the parade of donnish and scholastic drearies, the barricades of schoolbooks, texts, examinations with which he has dealt so faithfully.
I'm taking it all down. The trivialities. The ramblings. The drearies. The trites.
Forms
- plural
- drearies
- comparative
- drearier, more dreary
- superlative
- dreariest, most dreary
dreary · Drab; dark, colorless, or cheerless.
dredge · Any instrument used to gather or take by dragging; as: A…Dredge · A surname.drenched · Completely wet; sodden