Probably partly borrowed from Scots dree, and partly derived from its etymon Middle English dreen, dreghen, dreogen, drien, from Old English drēogan, from Proto-West Germanic *dreugan, from Proto-Germanic *dreuganą (“to act; to work, (specifically) to do military service”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to hold fast”). Doublet of dreich, dright, and drighten.
Cognates
* Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌹𐌿𐌲𐌰𐌽 (driugan, “to do military service”)
* Icelandic drýgja (“to commit, connect, perpetrate, lengthen”)
* Scots dree, drie (“to bear, endure, suffer, thole”)
Meanings
(Northern-England, Scotland, transitive) To bear or endure (something); to put up with, to suffer, to undergo.
Peace to the souls of the graveless dead! / 'Twas an awful doom to dree; / But fearful and wondrous are thy works, / O God! in the boundless sea! 1826, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, The Literary Gazette, 16th September: The Frozen Ship:
And redoubled pine for its dwellers I dree. 1885, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume VIII, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:
(Northern-England, Scotland, intransitive) To endure; to brook; also, to be able to do or continue.
Probably partly:
* derived from the verb (see etymology 1); and
* borrowed from Scots dree, or derived from its etymon Middle English dri, drie, dregh, dreghe (“annoyance, trouble; grief; period of time”), possibly from Middle English dregh, dri, drie (“burdensome; depressing, dismal; large, tall; lasting, long; long-suffering, patient; tedious; of blows: hard, heavy; of the face: unchanging, unmoved; of a person: strong, valorous”), from Old English *drēog, *drēoȝ, dreoh (“earnest; fit; sober”), and then probably partly:
** shortened from Old English gedrēog (“calm, quiet; sober; fit, suitable”, adjective); and
** influenced by Old Norse drjúgr (“sufficient; excessive, very; great; strong”), from Proto-Germanic *dreugaz (see above).
Doublet of dreich.
Life is blood, shed and offered. / The eagle’s eye can face this dree. / To beasts of chase the lie is proffered: / Timor Mortis Conturbat Me. 1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter VIII, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in the Stone):
But he's lying i' such dree poverty,—and niver a friend to go near him,—niver a person to speak a kind word t' him. 1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “Wedding Raiment”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 278:
To be sure, t' winter's been a dree season, and thou'rt, maybe, in the right on't to make a late start. 1863, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “The Engagement”, in Sylvia’s Lovers. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 40:
So, after two hours' running downhill, we came out in the level valley at Glashütte. It was raining now, a thick dree rain. a. 1931 (date written), D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “A Hay Hut among the Mountains”, in Warren Roberts, Harry T. Moore, editors, Phoenix II: Uncollected, Unpublished, and Other Prose Works by D. H. Lawrence […], Viking Compass edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, published 1970, →ISBN, part I (Stories and Sketches), page 43: