drought

drought
[[t]draʊt[/t]]
n.
1) mer a period of dry weather, esp. a long one that is injurious to crops
2) an extended shortage; scarcity; dearth
3) archaic
thirst Sometimes, drouth (drouth). Etymology: bef. 1000; ME; OE drūgath < drūg- (base of drȳge dry) drought′y,adj.drought•i•er, drought•i•est. drought′i•ness,n. pron: Because drought and drouth represent two phonetic developments of the same Old English word and are pronounced (drout) and (drouth) respectively, the latter is not a mispronunciation of drought . The now unproductive suffix -th1 and its alternate form -t were formerly used to derive nouns from adjectives or verbs, resulting in such pairs as drouth/drought from dry, and highth/height (the former now obsolete) from high. In American English, drought is common everywhere in educated speech and is the usual printed form.

From formal English to slang. 2014.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Drought — (drout), n. [OE. droght, drougth, dru[yogh][eth], AS. druga[eth], from drugian to dry. See {Dry}, and cf. {Drouth}, which shows the original final sound.] 1. Dryness; want of rain or of water; especially, such dryness of the weather as affects… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • drought|y — «DROW tee», adjective, drought|i|er, drought|i|est. 1. showing or suffering from drought: »a droughty, withered crop. 2. lacking moisture; dry …   Useful english dictionary

  • drought — O.E. drugað, drugoð drought, dryness, desert, from P.Gmc. *drugothaz, from Germanic root *dreug dry (cf high/height) with ith, Germanic suffix for forming abstract nouns from adjectives (see TH (Cf. th)). Drouth was a M.E. variant continued in… …   Etymology dictionary

  • drought — drought; drought·i·ness; …   English syllables

  • drought — index paucity Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • drought — [draut] n [U and C] [: Old English; Origin: drugath; related to dry] a long period of dry weather when there is not enough water for plants and animals to live …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • drought — [ draut ] noun count or uncount a long period of time when there is little or no rain and crops die …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • drought — [n] dryness; shortage of supply aridity, dearth, deficiency, dehydration, desiccation, dry spell, insufficiency, lack, need, parchedness, rainlessness, scarcity, want; concepts 607,646 Ant. monsoon, wetness …   New thesaurus

  • drought — ► NOUN ▪ a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall; a shortage of water. ORIGIN Old English, «dryness» …   English terms dictionary

  • drought — [drout] n. [ME < OE drugoth, dryness < drugian, to dry up; akin to dryge, DRY] 1. a prolonged period of dry weather; lack of rain 2. a prolonged or serious shortage or deficiency 3. Archaic thirst droughty adj. droughtier, droughtiest …   English World dictionary

  • Drought — For other uses, see Drought (disambiguation). Fields outside Benambra, Victoria, Australia suffering from drought conditions. A drought (or drouth [archaic]) is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”