dreich
Dreary, bleak, miserable — usually about weather.
Seen in the wild
Seems quite similar to Dreich, which is also used for weather: www.lovefromscotland.co.uk/scottish-wor...
it's the very definition of dreich this morning
I found some of my old sketches and studies for a tapestry project on Edinburgh. Immediately recognizable to me as The Meadows and dreich Edinburgh colours, though I optimistically included some blue sky.
Definitions
Dreary, bleak, miserable — usually about weather. Quintessentially Scottish. Pronounced "dreech" with a guttural "ch."
"Dreich day in Glasgow."
“Seems quite similar to Dreich, which is also used for weather: www.lovefromscotland.co.uk/scottish-wor...”
— Bluesky· May 2026“it's the very definition of dreich this morning”
— Bluesky· May 2026“I found some of my old sketches and studies for a tapestry project on Edinburgh. Immediately recognizable to me as The Meadows and dreich Edinburgh colours, though I optimistically included some blue sky.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
Extending for a long distance or time, especially when tedious or wearisome; long-drawn-out, protracted; also, of speech or writing: unnecessarily verbose; long-winded.
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Show 11 more dictionary-style senses (imported)
Bleak, cheerless, dismal, dreary, miserable.
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Of a task: laborious, tedious, troublesome; hence, needing concentration to understand; intricate.
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Slow, sluggish; specifically, of a person: tending to delay or procrastinate (especially when paying for something).
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Of weather: dreary, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.).
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suitably serious or solemn
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Not enjoyable or interesting; boring, dull.
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A tedious or troublesome task; also, the most tedious or troublesome part of a task.
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of a person: patient, stoic, tolerant, resolute
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Bleakness, gloom; specifically, gloomy (cold, overcast, rainy, etc.) weather.
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Chiefly of rain: without pause or stop; continuous, incessant.
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Of a person: having a dejected or serious appearance or mood; dour, gloomy, moody, morose, sullen.
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UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
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