Drear"y (?), a. [Compar. Drearier (?); superl. Dreariest.] [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreorig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreosan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]

1.

Sorrowful; distressful.

[Obs.] " Dreary shrieks."

Spenser.

2.

Exciting cheerless sensations, feelings, or associations; comfortless; dismal; gloomy.

" Dreary shades." Dryden. "The dreary ground."

Prior.

Full many a dreary anxious hour. Keble.

Johnson entered on his vocation in the most dreary part of that dreary interval which separated two ages of prosperity. Macaulay.

 

© Webster 1913.