Part 533

Drec"che (?), v. t. [AS. dreccan, dreccean.] 1. To vex; to torment; to trouble. [Obs.]

As man that in his dream is drecched sore.

Chaucer.

Drec"che, v. i. To delay. [Obs.] Gower.

Dredge (drj), n. [F. drège, dreige, fish net, from a word akin to E. draw; cf. D. dreg, dregge, small anchor, dregnet dragnet. √73. See Draw.] 1. Any instrument used to gather or take by dragging; as: (a) A dragnet for taking up oysters, etc., from their beds. (b) A dredging machine. (c) An iron frame, with a fine net attached, used in collecting animals living at the bottom of the sea.

2. (Mining) Very fine mineral matter held in suspension in water. Raymond.

Dredge (drj), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dredged (drjd); p. pr. & vb. n. Dredging.] To catch or gather with a dredge; to deepen with a dredging machine. R. Carew.

Dredging machine, a machine (commonly on a boat) used to scoop up mud, gravel, or obstructions from the bottom of rivers, docks, etc., so as to deepen them.

Dredge, n. [OE. dragge, F. dragée, dredge, also, sugar plum; cf. Prov. dragea, It. treggea; corrupted fr. LL. tragemata, pl., sweetmeats, Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to gnaw.] A mixture of oats and barley. [Obs.] Kersey.

Dredge, v. t. To sift or sprinkle flour, etc., on, as on roasting meat. Beau. & Fl.

Dredging box. (a) Same as 2d Dredger. (b) (Gun.) A copper box with a perforated lid; -- used for sprinkling meal powder over shell fuses. Farrow.

Dredg"er (?), n. 1. One who fishes with a dredge.

2. A dredging machine.

Dredg"er, n. (Cookery) A box with holes in its lid; -- used for sprinkling flour, as on meat or a breadboard; -- called also dredging box, drudger, and drudging box.

Dree (?), v. t. [AS. dreógan to bear, endure, complete.] To endure; to suffer. [Scot.]

Dree, v. i. To be able to do or endure. [Obs.]

Dree, a. Wearisome; tedious. [Prov. Eng.]

Dreg (?), n. [Prob. from Icel. dregg; akin to Sw. drägg, cf. Icel. & Sw. draga to draw. Cf. Draw.] Corrupt or defiling matter contained in a liquid, or precipitated from it; refuse; feculence; lees; grounds; sediment; hence, the vilest and most worthless part of anything; as, the dregs of society.

We, the dregs and rubbish of mankind.

Dryden.

Used formerly (rarely) in the singular, as by Spenser and Shakespeare, but now chiefly in the plural.

Dreg"gi*ness (?), n. Fullness of dregs or lees; foulness; feculence.

Dreg"gish (?), a. Foul with lees; feculent. Harvey.

Dreg"gy (?), a. Containing dregs or lees; muddy; foul; feculent. Boyle.

Drein (?), v. i. To drain. [Obs.] Congreve.

Drein"te (?), imp., Dreint (&?;), p. p. of Drench to drown. [Obs.] Chaucer.

||Dreis"se*na (?), n. [NL. Named after Dreyssen, a Belgian physician.] (Zoöl.) A genus of bivalve shells of which one species (D. polymorpha) is often so abundant as to be very troublesome in the fresh waters of Europe.

Drench (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Drenched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Drenching.] [AS. drencan to give to drink, to drench, the causal of drincan to drink; akin to D. drenken, Sw. dränka, G. tränken. See Drink.] 1. To cause to drink; especially, to dose by force; to put a potion down the throat of, as of a horse; hence. to purge violently by physic.