Drought (?), n. [OE. droght, drougth, dru, AS. druga, from drugian to dry. See Dry, and cf. Drouth, which shows the original final sound.]
1.
Dryness; want of rain or of water; especially, such dryness of the weather as affects the earth, and prevents the growth of plants; aridity.
The drought of March hath pierced to the root.
Chaucer.
In a drought the thirsty creatures cry.
Dryden.
2.
Thirst; want of drink.
Johnson.
3.
Scarcity; lack.
A drought of Christian writers caused a dearth of all history.
Fuller.
© Webster 1913.