Hypertext Webster Gateway: "dreary"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Dreary \Drear"y\, a. [Compar. {Drearier}; superl. {Dreariest}.]
[OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dre['o]rig, sad; akin to G. traurig,
and prob. to AS. dre['o]san to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf.
{Dross}, {Drear}, {Drizzle}, {Drowse}.]
1. Sorrowful; distressful. [Obs.] `` Dreary shrieks.''
--Spenser.
2. Exciting cheerless sensations, feelings, or associations;
comfortless; dismal; gloomy. `` Dreary shades.'' --Dryden.
``The dreary ground.'' --Prior.
Full many a dreary anxious hour. --Keble.
Johnson entered on his vocation in the most dreary
part of that dreary interval which separated two
ages of prosperity. --Macaulay.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
dreary
adj 1: depressing in character or appearance; "drove through dingy
streets"; "the dismal prison twilight"- Charles
Dickens; "drab old buildings"; "a dreary mining town";
"gloomy tenements"; "sorry routine that follows on the
heels of death"- B.A.Williams [syn: {dingy}, {dismal},
{drab}, {drear}, {gloomy}, {sorry}]
2: lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise; "her drab
personality"; "life was drab compared with the more
exciting life style overseas"; "a series of dreary dinner
parties" [syn: {drab}]
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