Chapter 483

1. Dryness; want of rain or of water; especially, such dryness of the weather as affects the earth, and prevents the growth of plants; aridity.

The drought of March hath pierced to the root. Chaucer.

In a drought the thirsty creatures cry. Dryden.

2. Thirst; want of drink.

Johnson.

3. Scarcity; lack.

A drought of Christian writers caused a dearth of all history. Fuller.

Droughtiness <Xpage=457>

Drought"i*ness (?) , n. A state of dryness of the weather; want of rain.

Droughty <Xpage=457>

Drought"y (?) , a.

1. Characterized by drought; wanting rain; arid; adust.

Droughty and parched countries. Ray.

2. Dry; thirsty; wanting drink.

Thy droughty throat. Philips.

Droumy <Xpage=457>

Drou"my (?) , a. [Cf. Scot. drum , dram , melancholy, Icel prumr a moper, W. trwm heavy, sad.] Troubled; muddy. [Obs.]

Bacon.

Drouth <Xpage=457>

Drouth (?) , n. Same as Drought .

Sandys.

Another ill accident is drouth at the spindling of corn. Bacon.

One whose drouth [thirst], Yet scarce allayed, still eyes the current stream. Milton.

In the dust and drouth of London life. Tennyson.

Drouthy <Xpage=457>

Drouth"y (?) , a. Droughty.

Drove <Xpage=457>

Drove (?) , imp. of Drive .

Drove <Xpage=457>

Drove , n. [AS. dr\'bef , fr. dr\'c6fan to drive. See Drive .]

1. A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body.

2. Any collection of irrational animals, moving or driving forward; as, a finny drove .

Milton.

3. A crowd of people in motion.

Where droves , as at a city gate, may pass. Dryden.

4. A road for driving cattle; a driftway. [Eng.]

5. (Agric.) A narrow drain or channel used in the irrigation of land.

Simmonds.

6. (Masonry) (a) A broad chisel used to bring stone to a nearly smooth surface; -- called also drove chisel . (b) The grooved surface of stone finished by the drove chisel; -- called also drove work .

Droven <Xpage=457>

Dro"ven (?) , p. p. of Drive . [Obs.]

Drover <Xpage=457>

Dro"ver (?) , n.

1. One who drives cattle or sheep to market; one who makes it his business to purchase cattle, and drive them to market.

Why, that's spoken like an honest drover ; so they sell bullocks. Shak.

2. A boat driven by the tide. [Obs.]

Spenser.

Drovy <Xpage=457>

Dro"vy (?) , a. [AS. dr<?/f dirty; cf. D. droef , G. tr\'81be , Goth. dr<?/bjan to trouble.] Turbid; muddy; filthy. [Obs.]

Chaucer.

Drow <Xpage=457>

Drow (?) , imp. of Draw . [Obs.]

Chaucer.

Drown <Xpage=457>

Drown (?) , v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Drowned (?) ; p. pr. & vb. n. Drowning .] [OE. drunen , drounen , earlier drunknen , druncnien , AS. druncnian to be drowned, sink, become drunk, fr. druncen drunken. See Drunken , Drink .] To be suffocated in water or other fluid; to perish in water.

Methought, what pain it was to drown . Shak.

Drown <Xpage=457>

Drown , v. t.

1. To overwhelm in water; to submerge; to inundate. "They drown the land."

Dryden.

2. To deprive of life by immersion in water or other liquid.

3. To overpower; to overcome; to extinguish; -- said especially of sound.

Most men being in sensual pleasures drowned . Sir J. Davies.

My private voice is drowned amid the senate. Addison.

To drown up , to swallow up. [Obs.]

Holland.

Drownage <Xpage=457>

Drown"age (?) , n. The act of drowning. [R.]

Drowner <Xpage=457>

Drown"er (?) , n. One who, or that which, drowns.

Drowse <Xpage=457>

Drowse (?) , v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Drowsed (?) ; p. pr. & vb. n. Drowsing .] [AS. dr<?/sian , dr<?/san , to sink, become slow or inactive; cf. OD. droosen to be sleepy, fall asleep, LG. dr<?/sen , druusken , to slumber, fall down with a noise; prob, akin to AS. dre\'a2san to fall. See Dreary .] To sleep imperfectly or unsoundly; to slumber; to be heavy with sleepiness; to doze. "He drowsed upon his couch."

South.

In the pool drowsed the cattle up to their knees. Lowell.

Drowse <Xpage=457>

Drowse , v. t. To make heavy with sleepiness or imperfect sleep; to make dull or stupid.

Milton.

Drowse <Xpage=457>

Drowse , n. A slight or imperfect sleep; a doze.

But smiled on in a drowse of ecstasy. Mrs. Browning.

Drowsihead <Xpage=457>

Drow"si*head (?) , n. Drowsiness.

Thomson.

Drowsihed <Xpage=457>

Drow"si*hed , n. Drowsihead. [Obs.]

Spenser.

Drowsily <Xpage=457>

Drow"si*ly , adv. In a drowsy manner.

Drowsiness <Xpage=457>

Drow"si*ness , n. State of being drowsy.

Milton.

Drowsy <Xpage=457>

Drow"sy (?) , a. [ Compar. Drowsier (?) ; superl. Drowsiest .]

1. Inclined to drowse; heavy with sleepiness; lethargic; dozy. "When I am drowsy ."

Shak.

Dapples the drowsy east with spots of gray. Shak.

To our age's drowsy blood Still shouts the inspiring sea. Lowell.

2. Disposing to sleep; lulling; soporific.

The drowsy hours, dispensers of all good. Tennyson.

3. Dull; stupid. " Drowsy reasoning."

Atterbury.

Syn. -- Sleepy; lethargic; dozy; somnolent; comatose; dull heavy; stupid.

Drowth <Xpage=457>

Drowth (?) , n. See Drought .

Bacon.

Droyle <Xpage=457>

Droyle (?) , v. i. See Droil . [Obs.]

Spenser.

Drub <Xpage=457>

Drub (?) , v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Drubbed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Drubbing .] [Cf. Prov. E. drab to beat, Icel. & Sw. drabba to hit, beat, Dan. dr\'91be to slay, and perh. OE. drepen to strike, kill, AS. drepan to strike, G. & D. freffen to hit, touch, Icel. drepa to strike, kill.] To beat with a stick; to thrash; to cudgel.

Soundly Drubbed with a good honest cudgel. L'Estrange.

Drub <Xpage=457>

Drub , n. A blow with a cudgel; a thump.

Addison.

Drubber <Xpage=457>

Drub"ber (?) , n. One who drubs.

Sir W. Scott.

Drudge <Xpage=457>

Drudge (?) , v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Drudged (?) ; p. pr. & vb. n. Drudging .] [OE. druggen ; prob not akin to E. drag , v. t., but fr. Celtic; cf. Ir. drugaire a slave or drudge.] To perform menial work; to labor in mean or unpleasant offices with toil and fatigue.

He gradually rose in the estimation of the booksellers for whom he drudged . Macaulay.

Drudge <Xpage=457>

Drudge , v. t. To consume laboriously; -- with away .

Rise to our toils and drudge away the day. Otway.

Drudge <Xpage=457>

Drudge , n. One who drudges; one who works hard in servile employment; a mental servant.

Milton.

Drudger <Xpage=457>

Drudg"er (?) , n. 1. One who drudges; a drudge.

2. A dredging box.

Drudgery <Xpage=457>

Drudg"er*y (?) , n. The act of drudging; disagreeable and wearisome labor; ignoble or slavish toil.

The drudgery of penning definitions. Macaulay.

Paradise was a place of bliss . . . without drudgery and with out sorrow. Locke.

Syn. -- See Toll .

Drudging box <Xpage=457>

Drudg"ing box` (?) . See Dredging box .

Drudgingly <Xpage=457>

Drudg"ing*ly , adv. In a drudging manner; laboriously.

Druery <Xpage=457>

Dru"er*y (?) , n. [OF. druerie .] Courtship; gallantry; love; an object of love. [Obs.]

Chaucer.

Drug <Xpage=457>

Drug (?) , v. i. [See 1st Drudge .] To drudge; to toil laboriously. [Obs.] "To drugge and draw."

Chaucer.

Drug <Xpage=457>

Drug , n. A drudge (?).

Shak. (Timon iv. 3, 253).

Drug <Xpage=457>

Drug , n. [F. drogue , prob. fr. D. droog ; akin to E. dry ; thus orig., dry substance, hers, plants, or wares. See Dry .]

1. Any animal, vegetable, or mineral substance used in the composition of medicines; any stuff used in dyeing or in chemical operations.

Whence merchants bring

Their spicy drugs .

Milton.

2. Any commodity that lies on hand, or is not salable; an article of slow sale, or in no demand. "But sermons are mere drugs ."

Fielding.

And virtue shall a drug become. Dryden.

Drug <Xpage=457>

Drug , v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Drugged (?) ; p. pr. & vb. n. Drugging .] [Cf. F. droguer .] To prescribe or administer drugs or medicines.

B. Jonson.

Drug <Xpage=457>

Drug , v. t.

1. To affect or season with drugs or ingredients; esp., to stupefy by a narcotic drug. Also Fig.

The laboring masses . . . [were] drugged into brutish good humor by a vast system of public spectacles. C. Kingsley.

Drug thy memories, lest thou learn it. Tennyson.

2. To tincture with something offensive or injurious.

Drugged as oft, With hatefullest disrelish writhed their jaws. Milton.

3. To dose to excess with, or as with, drugs.

With pleasure drugged , he almost longed for woe. Byron.

Drugger <Xpage=457>

Drug"ger (?) , n. A druggist. [Obs.]

Burton.

Drugget <Xpage=457>

Drug"get (?) , n. [F. droguet , prop. dim. of drogue trash, stuff, perh, the same word as drogue drug, but cf. also W. drwg evil, bad, Ir. & Gael. droch , Arm. droug , drouk . See 3d Drug .] (a) A coarse woolen cloth dyed of one color or printed on one side; generally used as a covering for carpets. (b) By extension, any material used for the same purpose.

Druggist <Xpage=457>

Drug"gist (?) , n. [F. droguiste , fr. drogue . See 3d Drug .] One who deals in drugs; especially, one who buys and sells drugs without compounding them; also, a pharmaceutist or apothecary.

&hand; The same person often carries on the business of the druggist and the apothecary. See the Note under Apothecary .

Drugster <Xpage=457>

Drug"ster (?) , n. A druggist. [Obs.]

Boule.

Druid <Xpage=457>

Dru"id (?) , n. [L. Druides ; of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. draoi , druidh , magician, Druid, W. derwydd Druid.]

1. One of an order of priests which in ancient times existed among certain branches of the Celtic race, especially among the Gauls and Britons.

&hand; The Druids superintended the affairs of religion and morality, and exercised judicial functions. They practiced divination and magic, and sacrificed human victims as a part of their worship. They consisted of three classes; the bards, the vates or prophets, and the Druids proper, or priests. Their most sacred rites were performed in the depths of oak forests or of caves.

2. A member of a social and benevolent order, founded in London in 1781, and professedly based on the traditions of the ancient Druids. Lodges or groves of the society are established in other countries.

Druid stones , a name given, in the south of England, to weatherworn, rough pillars of gray sandstone scattered over the chalk downs, but in other countries generally in the form of circles, or in detached pillars.

Druidess <Xpage=457>

Dru"id*ess , n. A female Druid; a prophetess.

Druidic, Druidical <Xpage=457>

Dru*id"ic (?) , Dru*id"ic*al (?) , a. Pertaining to, or resembling, the Druids.

Druidical circles . See under Circle .

Druidish <Xpage=457>

Dru"id*ish (?) , a. Druidic.

Druidism <Xpage=457>

Dru"id*ism (?) , n. The system of religion, philosophy, and instruction, received and taught by the Druids; the rites and ceremonies of the Druids.

Drum <Xpage=457>

Drum (?) , n. [Cf. D. trom , trommel , LG. trumme , G. trommel , Dan. tromme , Sw. trumma , OHG. trumba a trumpet, Icel. pruma a clap of thunder, and as a verb, to thunder, Dan. drum a booming sound, drumme to boom; prob. partly at least of imitative origin; perh. akin to E. trum , or trumpet .]

1. (Mus.) An instrument of percussion, consisting either of a hollow cylinder, over each end of which is stretched a piece of skin or vellum, to be beaten with a stick; or of a metallic hemisphere (kettledrum) with a single piece of skin to be so beaten; the common instrument for marking time in martial music; one of the pair of tympani in an orchestra, or cavalry band.

The drums cry bud-a-dub. Gascoigne.

2. Anything resembling a drum in form ; as: (a) A sheet iron radiator, often in the shape of a drum, for warming an apartment by means of heat received from a stovepipe, or a cylindrical receiver for steam, etc. (b) A small cylindrical box in which figs, etc., are packed. (c) (Anat.) The tympanum of the ear; -- often, but incorrectly, applied to the tympanic membrane . (d) (Arch.) One of the cylindrical, or nearly cylindrical, blocks, of which the shaft of a column is composed; also, a vertical wall, whether circular or polygonal in plan, carrying a cupola or dome . (e) (Mach.) A cylinder on a revolving shaft, generally for the purpose of driving several pulleys, by means of belts or straps passing around its periphery; also, the barrel of a hoisting machine, on which the rope or chain is wound.

3. (Zo\'94l.) See Drumfish .

4. A noisy, tumultuous assembly of fashionable people at a private house; a rout. [Archaic]

Not unaptly styled a drum , from the noise and emptiness of the entertainment. Smollett.

&hand; There were also drum major , rout , tempest , and hurricane , differing only in degrees of multitude and uproar, as the significant name of each declares.

5. A tea party; a kettledrum.

G. Eliot.

Bass drum . See in the Vocabulary. -- Double drum . See under Double .

Drum <Xpage=457>

Drum , v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Drummed (?) ; p. pr. & vb. n. Drumming .]

1. To beat a drum with sticks; to beat or play a tune on a drum.

2. To beat with the fingers, as with drumsticks; to beat with a rapid succession of strokes; to make a noise like that of a beaten drum; as, the ruffed grouse drums with his wings .

Drumming with his fingers on the arm of his chair. W. Irving.

3. To throb, as the heart. [R.]

Dryden.

4. To go about, as a drummer does, to gather recruits, to draw or secure partisans, customers, etc,; -- with for .

Drum <Xpage=457>

Drum , v. t.

1. To execute on a drum, as a tune.

2. (With out ) To expel ignominiously, with beat of drum; as, to drum out a deserter or rogue from a camp, etc.

3. (With up ) To assemble by, or as by, beat of drum; to collect; to gather or draw by solicitation; as, to drum up recruits; to drum up customers.

Drumbeat <Xpage=457>

Drum"beat` (?) , n. The sound of a beaten drum; drum music.

Whose morning drumbeat , following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England. D. Webster.

Drumble <Xpage=457>

Drum"ble (?) , v. i. [See Drumly .]

1. To be sluggish or lazy; to be confused. [Obs.]

Shak.

2. To mumble in speaking. [Obs.]

Drumfish <Xpage=457>

Drum"fish` (?) , n. (Zo\'94l.) any fish of the family Sci\'91nid\'91 , which makes a loud noise by means of its air bladder; -- called also drum .

<page="458"> Page 458

&hand; The common drumfish ( Pogonias chromis ) is a large species, common south of New Jersey. The southern red drum or red horse ( Sci\'91na ocellata ), and the fresh-water drum or croaker ( Aplodionotus grunniens ), are related species.

Drumhead <Xpage=458>

Drum"head` (?) , n.

1. The parchment or skin stretched over one end of a drum.

2. The top of a capstan which is pierced with sockets for levers used in turning it. See Illust . of Capstan .

Drumhead court-martial (Mil.) , a summary court-martial called to try offenses on the battlefield or the line of march, when, sometimes, a drumhead has to do service as a writing table.

Drumlin <Xpage=458>

Drum"lin (?) , n. [Gael. druim the ridge of a hill.] (Geol.) A hill of compact, unstratified, glacial drift or till, usually elongate or oval, with the larger axis parallel to the former local glacial motion.

Drumly <Xpage=458>

Drum"ly , a. [Cf. Droumy .] Turbid; muddy. [Scot. & Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

Wodroephe (1623). Burns.

Drum major <Xpage=458>

Drum" ma"jor (?) .

1. The chief or first drummer of a regiment; an instructor of drummers.

2. The marching leader of a military band. [U.S.]

3. A noisy gathering. [R.] See under Drum , n. , 4.

Drummer <Xpage=458>

Drum"mer (?) , n.

1. One whose office is to best the drum, as in military exercises and marching.

2. One who solicits custom; a commercial traveler. [Colloq. U.S.]

Bartlett.

3. (Zo\'94l.) A fish that makes a sound when caught ; as: (a) The squeteague . (b) A California sculpin.

4. (Zo\'94l.) A large West Indian cockroach ( Blatta gigantea ) which drums on woodwork, as a sexual call.

Drumming <Xpage=458>

Drum"ming (?) , n. The act of beating upon, or as if upon, a drum; also, the noise which the male of the ruffed grouse makes in spring, by beating his wings upon his sides.

Drummond light <Xpage=458>