English

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Etymology

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From dross +‎ -y.

Adjective

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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.