dross

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dross

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• drosse (obsolete)

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.

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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

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.

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

• human dross
• drosser
• drossless
• drossy

dross (third-person singular simple present drosses, present participle drossing, simple past and past participle drossed)

1. (transitive) To remove dross from.

• sords

dross (definite drosais, comparative drosāks, superlative visdrosākais, adverb drosi)

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