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Webster 1828 Edition


Dregs

DREGS

,
Noun.
Plu. [Gr.]
1.
The sediment of liquors; lees; grounds; feculence; any foreign matter of liquors that subsides to the bottom of a vessel.
2.
Waste or worthless matter; dross; sweepings; refuse. Hence, the most vile and despicable part of men; as the dregs of society.
Dreg, in the singular, is found in Spenser, but is not now used.

Definition 2024


dregs

dregs

English

Noun

dregs pl (plural only)

  1. (collectively) The sediment settled at the bottom of a liquid; the lees in a container of unfiltered wine.
  2. (figuratively, the dregs) The worst and lowest part of something.
    • the dregs of society
    • 1826, Mary Shelley, The Last Man, volume 3, chapter 9
      Yet even now I had not drunk the bitter potion to the dregs; I was not yet persuaded of my loss; I did not yet feel in every pulsation, in every nerve, in every thought, that I remained alone of my rase - that I was The Last Man.

Usage notes

  • The singular form dreg is far less common, but the phrase to the last dreg still has currency.

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