dross

See also: Droß and drošs

English

Alternative forms

• drosse (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English drosse, dros, from Old English drōs, from Proto-Germanic *drōhs (“dregs, sediment”).

Also compare Old English drōsna, drōsne (“a ground, sediment, lees, dregs, dirt, ear wax”), from Proto-Germanic *drōhsnǭ, *drōhsnō (“dregs, sediment”), derived from *drōhs. Alternatively, this may be from *dragjō +‎ *-snō (“yeast, sediment”; compare *dragjō (“yeast”)), as if from *drēcg +‎ -sn.

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrā́ks (“sediment, yeast”).

Cognate with Scots dros, drose, drosse (“small particles, fragments, dross”), Middle Dutch droes (“dregs”), Dutch droesem (“dregs”), German Drusen (“lees, dregs”), Latin fracēs (“grounds or dregs of oil”). Related also to drast, dregs.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɹɒs/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɹɔs/
• (Canada, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /dɹɑs/
• Rhymes: -ɒs, -ɔːs

Noun

dross (usually uncountable, plural drosses)

1. Waste or impure matter.
2. Residue that forms as a scum on the surface of molten metal from oxidation.

   Synonyms: gangue, scoria

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:

     Dross is related with the incomplete expulsion of the melt from the bottom of the kerf. For precision applications where the clean cutting edges are important the formation of dross at the bottom of the cutting kerf must be controlled. This requires deep understanding of the mechanisms of dross formation and the various materials and laser-cutting parameters which potentially control the formation of dross. For example, the highly cleaned (dross-free) cutting edges can be obtained in […]

   • 2008, André Ditze, Christiane Scharf, Recycling of Magnesium, Ditze & Scharf, →ISBN, page 25:

     One of the main problems with recycling and melting magnesium is the presence of particles in the melt which lead to the formation of dross and sludge. To be more precise, the necessary removal of dross and sludge greatly increase the costs of the facility. And, material is lost.

5. (figurative) Worthless or trivial matter.

   Synonyms: junk, rubbish

   • c. 1945, Ezra Pound, Canto LXXXI:

     What thou lovest well remains,
     the rest is dross

6. (slang) Residual raw opium left in an opium pipe which can be recycled for further sale or use.

Quotations

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

Derived terms

• human dross
• drosser
• drossless
• drossy

Translations

Waste or impure matter

• Bulgarian: отпадъци (bg) m pl (otpadǎci)
• Czech: odpad (cs) m, škvár m, brak (cs) m, šmejd (cs) m
• German: Müll (de) m, Schrott (de) m
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} dras m, ^{(please verify)} dros m, ^{(please verify)} cacamas m, ^{(please verify)} caclach m, ^{(please verify)} lathairt f, ^{(please verify)} lóch m, ^{(please verify)} lóchán m, ^{(please verify)} luifearnach f, ^{(please verify)} sail (ga) f
• Persian: تفاله (fa) (tofâle), لوث (fa) (lows)
• Polish: nieczystości nvir, odpady nvir
• Russian: отбро́сы (ru) m pl (otbrósy)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏тпа̄д m, о̀тпадак m

  Roman: ȍtpād (sh) m, òtpadak (sh) m

• Swedish: slagg (sv)

Residue that forms on the surface of molten metal

• Bulgarian: шлака (bg) f (šlaka)
• Czech: struska f
• French: crasse (fr), écume (fr), scorie (fr)
• German: Schlacke (de), Krätze (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: σκωρία f (skōría)

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} smúr m
• Italian: scoria (it)
• Latin: spodium n
• Portuguese: escória (pt)
• Romanian: zgură (ro) f
• Russian: ока́лина (ru) f (okálina), шлак (ru) m (šlak)
• Spanish: escoria (es)
• Swedish: slagg (sv)
• Tagalog: taing-bakal

The impurities in metal

• Bulgarian: примес (bg) m (primes)
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} sail (ga) f, ^{(please verify)} salachar m, ^{(please verify)} slaidhreadh m
• Russian: при́месь (ru) f (prímesʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: при̑мјеса f, нечисто̀ћа f

  Roman: prȋmjesa (sh) f, nečistòća f

A waste product from working with metal

• Czech: struska f, škvára (cs) f
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} sail (ga) f, ^{(please verify)} salachar m, ^{(please verify)} slaidhreadh m
• Latin: scoria f
• Polish: zgar (pl) m
• Romanian: zgură (ro) f
• Russian: шлак (ru) m (šlak)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шља̏ка f

  Roman: šljȁka (sh) f

• Swedish: slagg (sv)

Worthless or trivial matter

• German: Abschaum (de) m, Schund (de) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̀тпадак m

  Roman: òtpadak (sh) m

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 drosāks, superlative visdrosākais, adverb drosi)

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

Declension

indefinite declension (nenoteiktā galotne) of dross

	masculine (vīriešu dzimte)			feminine (sieviešu dzimte)
	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)		singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	dross	drosi		drosa	drosas
accusative (akuzatīvs)	drosu	drosus		drosu	drosas
genitive (ģenitīvs)	drosa	drosu		drosas	drosu
dative (datīvs)	drosam	drosiem		drosai	drosām
instrumental (instrumentālis)	drosu	drosiem		drosu	drosām
locative (lokatīvs)	drosā	drosos		drosā	drosās
vocative (vokatīvs)	—	—		—	—