dreary
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L22909 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈdɹɪəɹi/ / /ˈdɹɪɹi/ / /ˈdɹɪɚi/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English drery, from Old English drēoriġ (“sad”), from Proto-Germanic *dreuzagaz (“bloody”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrews- (“to break, break off, crumble”), equivalent to drear + -y. Cognate with Dutch treurig (“sad, gloomy”), Low German trurig (“sad”), German traurig (“sad, sorrowful, mournful”), Old Norse dreyrigr (“bloody”). Related to Old English drēor (“blood, falling blood”), Old English drysmian (“to become gloomy”).
- 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...”
- Grievous, dire; appalling.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English drery, from Old English drēoriġ (“sad”), from Proto-Germanic *dreuzagaz (“bloody”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrews- (“to break, break off, crumble”), equivalent to drear + -y. Cognate with Dutch treurig (“sad, gloomy”), Low German trurig (“sad”), German traurig (“sad, sorrowful, mournful”), Old Norse dreyrigr (“bloody”). Related to Old English drēor (“blood, falling blood”), Old English drysmian (“to become gloomy”).
- A 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.”