drought

== English == === Alternative forms === drouth (Scotland and Northern England, otherwise archaic or poetic) druft (Northern England) === Etymology === From Middle English droughte, droghte, drouȝte, from Old English drūgaþ. Cognate with Dutch droogte, Low German Dröögde. By surface analysis, dry +‎ -t (abstract nominal suffix). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈdɹaʊ̯t/ (Canada, Canadian raising) IPA(key): /ˈdɹɐʊ̯t/, /ˈdɹɜʊ̯t/, /ˈdɹʌʊ̯t/, /ˈdɹəʊ̯t/ (Southern US, Midland US, Mid-Atlantic US, New York City, General Australian, New Zealand, /aʊ̯/-fronting) IPA(key): /ˈdɹæʊ̯t/ (Pittsburgh, General South African, /aʊ̯/-monophthongization) IPA(key): /ˈdɹaːt/ Rhymes: -aʊt Hyphenation: drought === Noun === drought (countable and uncountable, plural droughts) A period of unusually low rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spell. 1917, Knut Hamsun, Growth of the Soil, Book 1, Ch.4, at p.33: The weather looked like drought―a thoroughly wicked drought; if the rain did not come before long, their crops would be burnt up. (by extension, informal) A longer than expected term without success, particularly in sport. Synonym: losing streak Antonym: winning streak (archaic) dryness, aridness, dry heat ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== == Middle English == === Noun === drought alternative form of droughte