drossy

American  

[draw-see, dros-ee] / ˈdrɔ si, ˈdrɒs i /

adjective

drossier, drossiest

1. containing dross.

2. resembling dross; worthless.

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Other Word Forms

• drossiness
  noun
• undrossy
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of drossy

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at dross, -y ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

drossy drossier

Time will sift it of its drossy puffs and praises.

From Life and Remains of John Clare "The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" by Cherry, J. L.

For most part, too, we must admit that the Learning, heterogeneous as it is, and tumbled-down quite pell-mell, is true concentrated and purified Learning, the drossy parts smelted out and thrown aside.

From Sartor Resartus, and On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Carlyle, Thomas

For most part, too, we must admit that the Learning, heterogeneous as it is, and tumbled down quite pell-mell, is true concentrated and purified Learning, the drossy parts smelted out and thrown aside.

From Sartor Resartus: the life and opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh by Carlyle, Thomas

He did possess what, though it may seem almost profane to call it imagination, is really a cheap and drossy lower kind thereof.

From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century by Saintsbury, George

What he thus sucked in, he purged from its drossy mixtures, replenished with fresh vitality, and gave it back clothed in the grace and strength of his own clear spirit.

From Shakespeare: His Life, Art, And Characters, Volume I. With An Historical Sketch Of The Origin And Growth Of The Drama In England by Hudson, Henry Norman

But spoyl’d, and rob’d, his drossier Glories gone, His Virtue and his Truth are still his own.

From Anti-Achitophel (1682) Three Verse Replies to Absalom and Achitophel by John Dryden by Jones, Harold Whitmore