dreg

dreg is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 1 sense. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.Corrupt or defiling matter contained in a liquid, or precipitated from it; refuse; feculence; lees; grounds; sediment; hence, the vilest and most worthless part of anything; as, the dregs of society. We, the dregs and rubbish of mankind. Dryden. Note: Used formerly (rarely) in the singular, as by Spenser and Shakespeare, but now chiefly in the plural.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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