The adjective is borrowed from Scots dreich (“hard to bear, dreary, tedious, wearisome; interminable, long-winded; dull, uninteresting; slow, tardy; doleful, gloomy; baffling, difficult; difficult to reach, inaccessible”), from Middle English dregh, dri, drie (“burdensome; depressing, dismal; large, tall; lasting, long; long-suffering, patient; tedious; of blows: hard, heavy; of the face: unchanging, unmoved; of a person: strong, valorous”) [and other forms], from Old English *drēog, drēoh (“earnest; fit; sober”), and then probably partly: * shortened from Old English ġedrēog (“calm, quiet; sober; fit, suitable”, adjective), from ġe- (prefix forming adjectives of association or similarity) + Proto-Germanic *dreugaz (“enduring, lasting”) (from *dreuganą (“to serve, be a retainer”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to serve one’s tribe; loyal”)); and * influenced by Old Norse drjúgr (“sufficient; excessive, very; great; strong”), from Proto-Germanic *dreugaz (see above). The noun is probably partly derived: * from the adjective; and * borrowed from Scots dreich (“dreariness, gloom”) (rare), probably from Middle English dri, drie (“annoyance, trouble; grief; period of time”) [and other forms], possibly from dri, drie (adjective) (see above). (Compare Old English ġedrēog (“seemliness; seriousness, sobriety; something appropriate or required”, noun), which did not survive into Middle English.) Cognates * German Low German drēg, drēge * Icelandic drjúgur (“ample; heavy, substantial; long”) * North Frisian drech * Old Danish drygh (modern Danish drøj (“heavy; solid, tough”)) * Old Swedish drygher (modern Swedish dryg (“ample, liberal; hard; large; lasting”)) * Saterland Frisian drjooch * Scots dreich * West Frisian dreech, drege (“extensive; long-lasting”)
Midlands, North, Northern England, Northern Ireland, Scotland Extending for a long distance or time, especially when tedious or wearisome; long-drawn-out, protracted; also, of speech or writing: unnecessarily verbose; long-winded.
So Alec showed her the letter, 'twas long and dreich and went on and on; […]1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon [pseudonym; James Leslie Mitchell], “Epilude: The Unfurrowed Field”, in Ian Campbell, editor, Sunset Song: A Novel (A Scots Quair; 1), Edinburgh: Polygon, Birlinn, published 2006, →ISBN, page 234:
VVhen thou an' I vvere young an' ſkiegh, / An' ſtable-meals at Fairs vvere driegh, / Hovv thou vvad prance, an' ſnore, an' ſkriegh, / An' tak the road!1786, Robert Burns, “The Auld Farmer’s New-year Morning Salutation to His Auld Mare, Maggie, on Giving Her the Accustomed Ripp of Corn to Hansel in the New-year”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 198:
["]My life is a bit driegh," says he, pouring out the brandy; "I see little company, and sit and twirl my thumbs, and mind upon a great day that is gone by, and weary for another great day that we all hope will be upon the road. And so here's a toast to ye: The Restoration!"1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Cluny’s Cage”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 225:
But he's lying i' such dree poverty,—and niver a friend to go near him,—niver a person to speak a kind word t' him.1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “Wedding Raiment”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 278:
Aweel, Wully was an unco praying kind o' man; a dreigh body, nane o' my kind, I never could abide the sight o' him; […]1889, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Summary of Events (continued)”, in The Master of Ballantrae. […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 22:
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The dreichest saul could see he had sunlicht in his ee, / And there's no his marrow left in the toun.[1917, John Buchan, “[Theocritus in Scots.] The Kirn (Idyll vii).”, in Poems: Scots and English (in Scots), London; Edinburgh: T. C. & E. C. Jack, →OCLC, book I (Scots), page 38:
It looked a dreich, cold place as you rode by at night, near as lonesome as the old Mill was, and not near as handy.1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon [pseudonym; James Leslie Mitchell], “Epilude: The Unfurrowed Field”, in Ian Campbell, editor, Sunset Song: A Novel (A Scots Quair; 1), Edinburgh: Polygon, Birlinn, published 2006, →ISBN, page 235:
There are many other species of Scottish station, from geranium-hung coastal termini to dreich places in the Black Country, but a concluding note must be reached, and it shall concern Glasgow.1941 January, C[uthbert] Hamilton Ellis, “The Scottish Station”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:
Angela Randall was not afraid of the dark, but driving home at this dreich hour and at the end of a difficult shift, she found the ectoplasmic fog unnerving.2004 June 3, Susan Hill, chapter 1, in The Various Haunts of Men (A Simon Serrailler Crime Novel), London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, page 4:
What think ye o' yon bonny hill yonder, lifting its brow to the moon? […] [M]aybe we will win there the night yet, God sain us, though our minny [a horse] here's rather driegh in the upgang.1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 88:
I have the bills o' men like Keppoch and Glengarry flourishing about the Lowlands in the place o' paper money; they're aye gettin' a' the dreicher at the payin', but whatever comes o't I have got them in my grasp.1914, Neil Munro, “A Call to the North”, in The New Road, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 53:
There they are that were capering on their prancing nags four days since, and they are now ganging as driegh and sober as oursells the day.1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume III (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 114:
Right above your head some thing towered up with branching arms in the flow of the lights; and you saw that it was a cross of stone, overlaid with curlecues, strange, dreich signs, like the banners of the Roman robbers of men whom you'd preached against in Zion last night.[1934], Lewis Grassic Gibbon [pseudonym; James Leslie Mitchell], “Forsaken”, in Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Hugh MacDiarmid [pseudonym; Christopher Murray Grieve], Scottish Scene or The Intelligent Man’s Guide to Albyn, London; Melbourne: National Book Association; Hutchinson & Co., →OCLC, 4th section, page 149:
So, after two hours' running downhill, we came out in the level valley at Glashütte. It was raining now, a thick dree rain.a. 1931 (date written), D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “A Hay Hut among the Mountains”, in Warren Roberts, Harry T. Moore, editors, Phoenix II: Uncollected, Unpublished, and Other Prose Works by D. H. Lawrence […], Viking Compass edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, published 1970, →ISBN, part I (Stories and Sketches), page 43:
To be sure, t' winter's been a dree season, and thou'rt, maybe, in the right on't to make a late start.1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “The Engagement”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 40:
Days are dreicher than January. / A dead lamb is dropped in the thaw. / Yet now we are glad / For all things turn to the sun.1969, George Mackay Brown, “Rackwick”, in An Orkney Tapestry, London: Victor Gollancz, →OCLC, page 40:
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Burglary with violent assault: just the thing for a dreich Thursday morning.1992, Ian Rankin, “Up the River”, in Strip Jack (A Thomas Dunne Book), 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, published 1994, →ISBN, page 97:
Up here, it’s a ‘dreich’ day with steady drizzle. Deep drainage channels either side of the track are already more like streams: Rannoch Moor is a wet place.2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is Best in the Highlands”, in Rail, number 997, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 39:
The adjective is borrowed from Scots dreich (“hard to bear, dreary, tedious, wearisome; interminable, long-winded; dull, uninteresting; slow, tardy; doleful, gloomy; baffling, difficult; difficult to reach, inaccessible”), from Middle English dregh, dri, drie (“burdensome; depressing, dismal; large, tall; lasting, long; long-suffering, patient; tedious; of blows: hard, heavy; of the face: unchanging, unmoved; of a person: strong, valorous”) [and other forms], from Old English *drēog, drēoh (“earnest; fit; sober”), and then probably partly: * shortened from Old English ġedrēog (“calm, quiet; sober; fit, suitable”, adjective), from ġe- (prefix forming adjectives of association or similarity) + Proto-Germanic *dreugaz (“enduring, lasting”) (from *dreuganą (“to serve, be a retainer”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to serve one’s tribe; loyal”)); and * influenced by Old Norse drjúgr (“sufficient; excessive, very; great; strong”), from Proto-Germanic *dreugaz (see above). The noun is probably partly derived: * from the adjective; and * borrowed from Scots dreich (“dreariness, gloom”) (rare), probably from Middle English dri, drie (“annoyance, trouble; grief; period of time”) [and other forms], possibly from dri, drie (adjective) (see above). (Compare Old English ġedrēog (“seemliness; seriousness, sobriety; something appropriate or required”, noun), which did not survive into Middle English.) Cognates * German Low German drēg, drēge * Icelandic drjúgur (“ample; heavy, substantial; long”) * North Frisian drech * Old Danish drygh (modern Danish drøj (“heavy; solid, tough”)) * Old Swedish drygher (modern Swedish dryg (“ample, liberal; hard; large; lasting”)) * Saterland Frisian drjooch * Scots dreich * West Frisian dreech, drege (“extensive; long-lasting”)