dree

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɹiː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɹi/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ðreː/, /driː/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /dri/
• Rhymes: -iː

Etymology 1

Probably partly borrowed from Scots dree, and partly derived from its etymon Middle English dreen, dreghen, dreogen, drien, from Old English drēogan, from Proto-Germanic *dreuganą (“to act; to work, (specifically) to do military service”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to hold fast”). Doublet of dreich, dright, and drighten.

cognates

• Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌹𐌿𐌲𐌰𐌽 (driugan, “to do military service”)
• Icelandic drýgja (“to commit, connect, perpetrate, lengthen”)
• Scots dree, drie (“to bear, endure, suffer, thole”)

Verb

dree (third-person singular simple present drees, present participle dreeing, simple past and past participle dreed) (chiefly Northern England, Scotland)

1. (transitive) To bear or endure (something); to put up with, to suffer, to undergo.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:tolerate

   • 1826, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, The Literary Gazette, 16th September: The Frozen Ship:

     Peace to the souls of the graveless dead! / 'Twas an awful doom to dree; / But fearful and wondrous are thy works, / O God! in the boundless sea!

   • 1885, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume VIII, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:

     And redoubled pine for its dwellers I dree.

2. (intransitive) To endure; to brook; also, to be able to do or continue.

Derived terms

• adree
• dree one's weird

Etymology 2

Probably partly:

• derived from the verb (see etymology 1); and
• borrowed from Scots dree, or derived from its etymon Middle English dri, drie, dregh, dreghe (“annoyance, trouble; grief; period of time”), possibly from Middle English dregh, dri, drie (“burdensome; depressing, dismal; large, tall; lasting, long; long-suffering, patient; tedious; of blows: hard, heavy; of the face: unchanging, unmoved; of a person: strong, valorous”), from Old English *drēog, *drēoȝ, dreoh (“earnest; fit; sober”), and then probably partly:
  • shortened from Old English gedrēog (“calm, quiet; sober; fit, suitable”, adjective), from ġe- (prefix forming adjectives of association or similarity) + Proto-Germanic *dreugaz (“enduring, lasting”) (from *dreuganą (“to serve, be a retainer”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to serve one’s tribe; loyal”)); and
  • influenced by Old Norse drjúgr (“sufficient; excessive, very; great; strong”), from Proto-Germanic *dreugaz (see above).

Doublet of dreich.

Noun

dree (plural drees)

1. (chiefly Northumbria, Scotland, archaic) Grief; suffering; trouble.
   • 1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter VIII, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in the Stone):

     Life is blood, shed and offered. / The eagle’s eye can face this dree. / To beasts of chase the lie is proffered: / Timor Mortis Conturbat Me.

Etymology 3

From dreich (adjective).

Adverb

dree (comparative more dree, superlative most dree)

1. (Northeast Midlands, Northern England)
   1. Of the doing of a task: with concentration; laboriously.
   2. Chiefly of the falling of rain: without pause or stop; continuously, incessantly.
2. (Lancashire, Scotland) Slowly, tediously.

Etymology 4

See dreich.

Adjective

dree (comparative dreer, superlative dreest)

1. Alternative form of dreich
   • 1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “The Engagement”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 40:

     To be sure, t' winter's been a dree season, and thou'rt, maybe, in the right on't to make a late start.

   • 1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “Wedding Raiment”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 278:

     But he's lying i' such dree poverty,—and niver a friend to go near him,—niver a person to speak a kind word t' him.

   • a. 1931 (date written), D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “A Hay Hut among the Mountains”, in Warren Roberts, Harry T. Moore, editors, Phoenix II: Uncollected, Unpublished, and Other Prose Works by D. H. Lawrence […], Viking Compass edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, published 1970, →ISBN, part I (Stories and Sketches), page 43:

     So, after two hours' running downhill, we came out in the level valley at Glashütte. It was raining now, a thick dree rain.

Derived terms

• dreely

Anagrams

• -dere, Eder, Rede, Reed, de re, deer, dere, rede, reed

Low German

German Low German cardinal numbers

<  2	3	4  >
Cardinal : dree     Ordinal : drütt

Alternative forms

• drei
• dre

Etymology

From Middle Low German drê, drî, drie, from Old Saxon thrie.

Numeral

dree

1. three

Coordinate terms

Cardinal numbers from 0 to 99

	—0	—1	—2	—3	—4	—5	—6	—7	—8	—9
0—	null	een	twee/twei	dree/drei	veer	fiev/fief	söß/söss	sæben/söven	acht	negen
1—	teihn/tein/tien	ölven/elf	twölf	dörteihn	veerteihn	föffteihn	sössteihn	söventeihn	achtteihn	negenteihn
2—	twintig	eenuntwintig	tweeuntwintig	dreeuntwintig	veeruntwintig	fiefuntwintig	sössuntwintig	sövenuntwintig	achtuntwintig	negenuntwintig
3—	dörtig	eenundörtig	tweeundörtig	dreeundörtig	veerundörtig	fiefundörtig	sössundörtig	sövenundörtig	achtundörtig	negenundörtig
4—	veertig	eenunveertig	tweeunveertig	dreeunveertig	veerunveertig	fiefunveertig	sössunveertig	sövenunveertig	achtunveertig	negenunveertig
5—	föfftig	eenunföfftig	tweeunföfftig	dreeunföfftig	veerunföfftig	fiefunföfftig	sössunföfftig	sövenunföfftig	achtunföfftig	negenunföfftig
6—	sösstig	eenunsösstig	tweeunsösstig	dreeunsösstig	veerunsösstig	fiefunsösstig	sössunsösstig	sövenunsösstig	achtunsösstig	negenunsösstig
7—	söventig	eenunsöventig	tweeunsöventig	dreeunsöventig	veerunsöventig	fiefunsöventig	sössunsöventig	sövenunsöventig	achtunsöventig	negenunsöventig
8—	achtig tachentig	eenunachtig eenuntachentig	tweeunachtig tweeuntachentig	dreeunachtig dreeuntachentig	veerunachtig veeruntachentig	fiefunachtig fiefuntachentig	sössunachtig sössuntachentig	sövenunachtig sövenuntachentig	achtunachtig achtuntachentig	negenunachtig negenuntachentig
9—	negentig	eenunnegentig	tweeunnegentig	dreeunnegentig	veerunnegentig	fiefunnegentig	sössunnegentig	sövenunnegentig	achtunnegentig	negenunnegentig

Cardinal numbers from 100 onward

• 100: hunnert
• 10³: dusend, duusend, eendusend
• 10⁴: teihndusend
• 10⁶: Milljon
• 10¹²: Billjon
• 10¹⁵: Billjard

…

Related terms

• (ordinal numeral) darde (East Frisian), drüdde, drüdd', drütt, drütte (in Dithmarschen)

Luxembourgish

Verb

dree

1. second-person singular imperative of dreeën

Plautdietsch

Etymology

From Middle Low German drê, drî, drie, from Old Saxon thrie.

Numeral

dree

1. three

Scots

Etymology

From Old English drēogan, from Proto-West Germanic *dreugan, from Proto-Germanic *dreuganą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /driː/

Verb

dree (third-person singular simple present drees, present participle dreein, simple past dreed, past participle dreed)

1. to endure, suffer, put up with, undergo

Derived terms

• dree one’s weird

Yola

Numeral

dree

1. Alternative form of dhree
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:

     Dree deemes.

     Three times.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 33