different between dross vs drossy

English

Alternative forms

• drosse (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English drosse, dros, from Old English dr?s, an apocopated variant of Old English dr?sna, dr?sne (“a ground, sediment, lees, dregs, dirt, ear wax”), from *dr?cg +? -sn, from Proto-Germanic *dr?hsn?, from *dragj? +? *-sn?, ("yeast, sediment"; compare *dragj? (“yeast”)), from Proto-Indo-European *d?r??ks (“sediment, yeast”). Cognate with Scots dros, drose, drosse (“small particles, fragments, dross”), Middle Dutch droes (“dregs”), Dutch droesem (“dregs”), German Drusen (“lees, dregs”), Latin frac?s (“grounds or dregs of oil”). Related also to drast, dregs.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??s/
• (Canada, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /d??s/
• Rhymes: -?s, -??s
• Rhymes: -??s

Noun

dross (usually uncountable, plural drosses)

1. Waste or impure matter.
2. Residue that forms on the surface of molten metal from oxidation.
3. The impurities in metal.
4. A waste product from working with metal.
   • 2008, Narendra B. Dahotre, Sandip Harimkar, Laser Fabrication and Machining of Materials, Springer Science & Business Media (?ISBN), page 176

   • 2008, André Ditze, Christiane Scharf, Recycling of Magnesium, Ditze & Scharf (?ISBN), page 25

5. (figuratively) Worthless or trivial matter.

   Synonyms: junk, rubbish

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:dross.

Derived terms

• drosser
• drossless
• drossy

Translations

Verb

dross (third-person singular simple present drosses, present participle drossing, simple past and past participle drossed)

1. (transitive) To remove dross from.

Anagrams

• sords

Latvian

Adjective

dross (definite drosais, comparative dros?ks, superlative visdros?kais, adverb drosi)

1. (dialectal) brave, safe, sure; alternative form of drošs

Declension

English

Etymology

dross +? -y

Adjective

drossy (comparative drossier or more drossy, superlative drossiest or most drossy)

1. worthless
   • 1602 : William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act V scene 2

     Thus has he, and many more of the same breed that I

     know the drossy age dotes on, only got the tune of the

     time and, out of an habit of encounter, a kind of

     yeasty collection, which carries them through and

     through the most profane and winnowed opinions