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Drouth

 - 3 dictionary results

drought

  [drout]
Use Drouth in a Sentence
–noun
1. a period of dry weather, esp. a long one that is injurious to crops.
2. an extended shortage: a drought of good writing.
3. Archaic. thirst.
Also, drouth  [drouth] .

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME; OE drūgath, equiv. to drūg- (base of drȳge dry ) + -ath -th 1 ; c. D droogte dryness

Synonyms:
2. scarcity, lack, want, dearth, paucity, famine.

Pronunciation note:
Drought and drouth, nouns derived from the adjective dry plus a suffix, are spellings that represent two phonetic developments of the same Old English word, and are pronounced [drout] and [drouth] respectively. The latter pronunciation, therefore, is not a mispronunciation of drought. The now unproductive suffix -th 1 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 with the pronunciation [drout] is common everywhere in educated speech, and is the usual printed form.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Drouth
drought   (drout)   
n.  

  1. A long period of abnormally low rainfall, especially one that adversely affects growing or living conditions.

  2. A prolonged dearth or shortage.


[Middle English, from Old English drūgoth; akin to drȳge, dry.]
drought'y adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

drought 
O.E. drugað, from P.Gmc. *drugothaz; related to drugian "dry up, whither" + -ith Gmc. suffix for forming abstract n. from adj. Drouth was a M.E. variant continued in Scot. and northern Eng. dialect.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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