dreg
- dregs, the sediment of liquids; lees; grounds.
- Usually dregs. the least valuable part of anything: the dregs of society.
- a small remnant; any small quantity.
Origin of dreg
Related Words for dregs
residue, lees, dirt, slag, waste, settlings, outcast, riffraff, rabble, loser, scum, trash, draffExamples from the Web for dregs
Contemporary Examples of dregs
All the good stuff—the Oscar bait—comes out in November or December; the dregs are reserved for January and February.
They are not interested in the dregs from my stash of clothes.
Having drunk the Clinton Global Initiative to the dregs, a hopey-changey hangover ensues.
The fish dies and is brought back to life—along with grandpa—with the dregs of a bag of chips.
Historical Examples of dregs
Malbone, greedy of emotion, was drinking to the dregs a passion that could have no to-morrow.
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
But Della drained her draught of joy to the dregs, and then tilted her cup anew.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
The pimps of proxenetism are recruited from the dregs of society.
The Sexual QuestionAugust Forel
There cling to him still the limitations and dregs of his brute life.
The Meaning of EvolutionSamuel Christian Schmucker
The sins of man are generally the dregs of his brute ancestry.
The Meaning of EvolutionSamuel Christian Schmucker
dregs
- solid particles that tend to settle at the bottom of some liquids, such as wine or coffee
- residue or remains
- British slang a despicable person
Word Origin for dregs
dreg
- a small quantitynot a dreg of pity See also dregs
Word Origin for dreg
Word Origin and History for dregs
c.1300 (implied in surname Dryngedregges), from Old Norse dregg "sediment," from Proto-Germanic *drag- (cf. Old High German trestir, German Trester "grapeskins, husks"), from PIE *dher- (1) "to make muddy." Replaced Old English cognate dræst, dærst "dregs, lees." Figurative use is from 1530s.
dreg
see dregs.