draff

English

Etymology

From Middle English draf, likely from an unrecorded Old English *dræf, from Proto-Germanic *drabaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɹæf/, /dɹɑːf/
• Rhymes: -æf, -ɑːf

Noun

draff (usually uncountable, plural draffs)

1. A byproduct from a grain distillery, often fed to pigs or cattle as part of their ration; often synonymous with brewer's spent grain, sometimes differentiated from it; usually differentiated from potale, at least in technical use, although broad, nontechnical use has often lumped all such byproducts together, especially in the past.

   Synonyms: dregs, hogwash

   Coordinate term: potale

   • 1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, pages 8–9:

     […] and thence ſprouteth that obſcene appellation of Sarding ſandes, with the draffe of the carterly Hoblobs thereabouts, concoct or diſgeaſt for a ſcripture, verity, when the right chriſtendome of it, is Cerdicke ſands, or Cerdick ſhore, […]

   • c. 1805-1814, Dante Alighieri, Henry Francis Cary (translator), The Divine Comedy Canto 18

     A crowd immersed in ordure, that appear'd draff of the human body.

Derived terms

• draffy

Translations

dregs; the wash given to swine or cows

• Bulgarian: помия (bg) f (pomija)
• French: drêche (fr) f
• Old Czech: sveřěp m
• Swedish: drank (sv) c

References

• Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition