Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1897-1949
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0]
DRATCH, DRETCH, v. and n. Also draitch, draatch, drats.
1. v. To move slowly and heavily; to dawdle, loiter (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), drats; Cai. 1900 E.D.D., draatch; n.Sc. 1808 Jam., dratch; Ags.2, Ags.17 1940, dratch; Dmf. 1825 Jam.2, dretch). Ppl.adj. dretched, dratset, dawdling dreamily (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.), careless (Jak.).Sc.(E) 1897 E. Hamilton Outlaws vi.:
And see ye dinna dretch.Sh. 1932 J. M. E. Saxby Trad. Lore 202:
He “gengs dratsin” is said of a person who has an ungainly and slow gait.
Hence dratchy, slow, dawdling.Cai. 1949 (per J. Ross):
This sort of weather maks dratchy work. He is very dratchy with his work.
2. n. A person slow in the execution of a job, a dawdler (Kcb.4 1900, draitch).
[O.Sc. drich, a.1400, drech, a.1586, Mid.Eng. dreche, to delay, of obscure origin. Some of the Sh. forms, however, may be influenced by or derived from drat- as in Norw. dial. dratla, Icel. drattast, to trudge, plod, O.N. dratta, to walk heavily and slowly.]You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Dratch v., n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 6 Apr 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/dratch>
