dregs

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dregges, the plural of dreg,^[2][3] which survives as the singular dreg,^[4][5] probably borrowed from Old Norse dregg (“sediment, lees, yeast”).^[6][7][8][9] The OED, the Shorter Oxford, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English say only that it is probably Scandinavian, comparing the plural dreggjar and Swedish drägg.^{[4][10][11][12]} The Norse word goes back to Proto-Germanic *dragjō,^[1][9][13] and Kroonen gives its relatives as Old Prussian dragios (“yeast”), Latvian dradži (“remains of cooked fat”) and Albanian dra (“sediment, dregs”).^[9] It is related to the older word Old English dræst (“dregs, lees”), also dærst, which it replaced,^[6][2][14] and to Old High German trestir and German Trester (“grape skins, husks”).^[6][2][14] For the further origin, Etymonline names Proto-Indo-European *dher- (“to make muddy”) and Wiktionary gives Proto-Indo-European *dʰrā́ks (“sediment”),^[6][1] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Collins compare Latin fracēs (“oil dregs”).^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sediment of a liquid: before 1300, in the Early English Psalter.^[4] Etymonline dates it to about 1300, from the surname Dryngedregges,^[6] which Barnhart dates 1309, and Barnhart's first plain record of dregges is about 1378, in a version of Piers Plowman.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word is usually plural.^[4][10] The same early psalter already uses it for filth and refuse, a sense that lasted until 1668.^[4][10] The figurative sense, the most worthless part of something, dates from 1531, in Elyot,^[4][6] and gave the set phrase the dregs of society.^[5] From 1577 it could mean a last remnant,^[4] and since 1639, in Fuller, the after-effects of a disease.^[4] To drink to the dregs, often figurative, is recorded from 1711, in Pope.^[4] Johnson (1755) gives the sediment of liquors, anything that corrupts purity, and "dross; sweepings; refuse", and derives the word from Saxon and Icelandic.^[15] Hoad notes the variants dragges and dredges in the 16th and 17th centuries.^[11] The singular dreg, a small quantity or drop, is recorded from 1821, in Carlyle;^[4] in Scots it meant a small quantity of spirits and the refuse of a still.^[16] In modern British slang dregs can be a despicable person,^[8] and in Australia dreg is a term of abuse for an unkempt or boring person, recorded in 1986.^[17]

Timeline

• before 1300 – the sediment of a liquid.^[4] Barnhart's first record of dregges in this sense is from about 1378.^[2]
• before 1300 – excrement, refuse, corrupt matter (obsolete by 1668).^[4]
• 1309 – in the surname Dryngedregges.^[2]
• 1531 – the most worthless part of something, in Elyot.^[4][6]
• 1577 – a last remnant.^[4]
• 1639 – the after-effects of a disease.^[4]
• 1711 – to drink to the dregs, in Pope.^[4]
• 1821 – singular dreg, a small quantity or drop.^[4]
• 1986 – Australian dreg, an unkempt or boring person.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. The solid particles that settle at the bottom of a liquid; sediment, lees: There were only coffee dregs left in the pot.^[8][5][4]
2. The most worthless part of something: the dregs of society.^[5][4]
3. The last remaining part; residue: the dregs of a long winter.^[8][5][4]
4. (British, slang) A despicable person.^[8]
5. In the singular, dreg: a small quantity or drop: not a dreg of remorse.^[8][4]
6. (obsolete, before 1300–1668) Excrement, rubbish, corrupt matter.^[4][10]

Related words

• dreg
• dross

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com