Dictionary

draff en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /dɹɑːf/
• /dɹæf/

Etymology

From Middle English draf, likely from an unrecorded Old English *dræf, from Proto-Germanic *drabaz.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) A byproduct from a brewery, a distillery, or both, often fed to pigs or cattle as part of their ration; often synonymous with distillers' grains, brewers' spent grains, or both (when not differentiated); usually differentiated from potale, at least in technical use, although broad, nontechnical use has often lumped all such byproducts together, especially in the past.
   • A crowd immersed in ordure, that appear'd draff of the human body. c. 1805-1814, Dante Alighieri, Henry Francis Cary (translator), The Divine Comedy Canto 18
   • […] and thence ſprouteth that obſcene appellation of Sarding ſandes, with the draffe of the carterly Hoblobs thereabouts, concoct or diſgeaſt for a ſcripture, verity, when the right chriſtendome of it, is Cerdicke ſands, or Cerdick ſhore, […] 1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, pages 8–9:
   • Near-synonyms: brewers' spent grains, BSG, distillers' grains

Forms

Coordinates

potale

Deriveds

draffy · draffish

Synonyms

dregs · hogwash · brewers' spent grains · BSG · distillers' grains

Translations (4)

fr drêche (dregs; the wash given to swine or cows) · bg помия (dregs; the wash given to swine or cows) · sv drank (dregs; the wash given to swine or cows) · zlw-ocs sveřěp (dregs; the wash given to swine or cows)