- prolonged or extreme dry weather; drought. In contrast to the plethora of words for rain, this is one of the very few Scots words for lack of rain.
However, even in Scotland, water shortages are nothing new. In 1580, the Edinburgh Records note ‘The scarcenes of watter … in the drowth and somer seasoun’; and in 1613 we read in the Aberdeen Ecclesiastical Records of ‘The extraordinarie drouth quhilk [which] is liklie to burne wp [up] and destroy the cornis’.
It was believed that a period of drought could encourage the spread of plague: The said pest … rais be excessive hetis [heatwaves] and drouth (John Bellenden Livy’s History of Rome 1533). This is not an unreasonable belief as such hot dry conditions are ideal for breeding the fleas which carry the pest [plague].
Drouth can also mean thirst. In Robert Burns’ poem, Tam o Shanter, Tam drinks with Souter Johnny, His ancient, trusted, drouthy crony, and a drinker’s drouth is one of the effects of over-indulgence that they probably both suffered from the following morning.
Housewives welcome a good drouth on wash-day, as the clothes on the line will dry quickly. Here it does not necessarily mean prolonged dryness but may refer more to a good drying wind combined with a temporary lack of actual rain.