English
Pronunciation
audio|en-us-dreg.ogg|Audio (US)
Etymology
From the w:Icelandic language|Icelandic dregg.
Noun
en-noun
- sediment|Sediment in a liquid.
- By extension, the lowest and most worthless part of something.
Usage notes
This term is usually used in plural: see dregs.
Quotations
1602?: What makes this pretty abruption? What too curious dreg espies my sweet lady in the fountain of our love? — William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida
1768:O! be the cup of joy to thee consign'd, / Of joy unmix'd, without a dreg behind! — William Hayley, from 'On the Fear of Death, An Epistle to a Lady, 1768', in Poems on Serious and Sacred Subjects 1818.
1910: Fear and trauma may drain to the last dreg the dischargeable nervous energy, and, therefore, the greatest possible exhaustion may be produced by fear and trauma. George W. Crile. in an address delivered at the Massachusetts General Hospital 15 Oct 1910, collected in The Origin and Nature of Emotions
References
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.048
Category:Icelandic derivations
Category:English borrowed words
ru:dreg
vi:dreg
zh:dreg
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