drossy

English

Etymology

From dross +‎ -y.

Adjective

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

1. worthless
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     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

   • 1685, Matthew Prior, “A Satyr on the modern Translators”, in H. Bunker Wright, Monroe K. Spears, editors, The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, Second edition, volume I, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1971, page 23:

     They found the Mass, ’tis true, but in their Mould
     They purg’d the drossy Oar to current Gold:
     Mending their patttern, they escap’d the Curse,
     Yet had they not writ better, they’d writ worse.

Derived terms

• drossiness
• undrossy