dross

See also: Droß and drošs

English

Alternative forms

drosse (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English drosse, dros, from Old English drōs, an apocopated variant of Old English drōsna, drōsne (“a ground, sediment, lees, dregs, dirt, ear wax”), from *drēcg +‎ -sn, from Proto-Germanic *drōhsnǭ, from *dragjō +‎ *-snō, ("yeast, sediment"; compare *dragjō (“yeast”)), 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.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɹɒs/
Audio (UK) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /dɹɔs/
(Canada, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /dɹɑs/
Rhymes: -ɒs, -ɔːs

Noun

dross (usually uncountable, plural drosses)

Waste or impure matter.
Residue that forms on the surface of molten metal from oxidation.
The impurities in metal.
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.
(figurative) Worthless or trivial matter.
- c. 1945, Ezra Pound, Canto LXXXI:
  What thou lovest well remains,
  the rest is dross
Synonyms: junk, rubbish

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:dross.

Derived terms

drosser
drossless
drossy

Translations

Waste or impure matter

Bulgarian: отпадъци (bg) m pl (otpadǎci)
Czech: odpad (cs) m, škvár m, brak (cs) m, šmejd (cs) m
German: Müll (de) m, Schrott (de) m
Irish: ^{(please verify)} dras m, ^{(please verify)} dros m, ^{(please verify)} cacamas m, ^{(please verify)} caclach m, ^{(please verify)} lathairt f, ^{(please verify)} lóch m, ^{(please verify)} lóchán m, ^{(please verify)} luifearnach f, ^{(please verify)} sail (ga) f
Persian: تفاله‎ (fa) (tofâle), لوث‎ (fa) (lows)
Russian: отбро́сы (ru) m pl (otbrósy)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: о̏тпа̄д m, о̀тпадак m
Roman: ȍtpād (sh) m, òtpadak (sh) m
Swedish: slagg (sv)

Residue that forms on the surface of molten metal

Bulgarian: шлака (bg) f (šlaka)
Czech: struska f
German: Schlacke (de), Krätze (de)
Greek:
Ancient: σκωρία f (skōría)
Irish: ^{(please verify)} smúr m
Romanian: zgură (ro) f
Russian: ока́лина (ru) f (okálina), шлак (ru) m (šlak)
Tagalog: taing-bakal
Swedish: slagg (sv)

The impurities in metal

Bulgarian: примес (bg) m (primes)
Irish: ^{(please verify)} sail (ga) f, ^{(please verify)} salachar m, ^{(please verify)} slaidhreadh m
Russian: при́месь (ru) f (prímesʹ)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: при̑мјеса f, нечисто̀ћа f
Roman: prȋmjesa (sh) f, nečistòća f

A waste product from working with metal

Czech: struska f, škvára (cs) f
Irish: ^{(please verify)} sail (ga) f, ^{(please verify)} salachar m, ^{(please verify)} slaidhreadh m
Latin: scoria f
Romanian: zgură (ro) f
Russian: шлак (ru) m (šlak)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: шља̏ка f
Roman: šljȁka (sh) f
Swedish: slagg (sv)

Worthless or trivial matter

German: Abschaum (de) m, Schund (de) m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: о̀тпадак m
Roman: òtpadak (sh) m

Verb

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

(transitive) To remove dross from.

Anagrams

sords

Latvian

Adjective

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

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

Declension

indefinite declension (nenoteiktā galotne) of dross

	masculine (vīriešu dzimte)		feminine (sieviešu dzimte)
	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	dross	drosi	drosa	drosas
accusative (akuzatīvs)	drosu	drosus	drosu	drosas
genitive (ģenitīvs)	drosa	drosu	drosas	drosu
dative (datīvs)	drosam	drosiem	drosai	drosām
instrumental (instrumentālis)	drosu	drosiem	drosu	drosām
locative (lokatīvs)	drosā	drosos	drosā	drosās
vocative (vokatīvs)	—	—	—	—