Drear"y (?), a. [Compar. Drearier (?); superl. Dreariest.] [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreorig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreosan 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.
© Webster 1913.