What does dript mean?
"Dript" is a literary variant of "dripped," serving as the past tense and past participle of the verb "drip." To drip is to fall, or cause to fall, in small drops — rain drips from eaves, candle wax from a taper, sweat from a brow — and "dript" records that action in a compact form favored by poets and earlier prose writers, who often chose it over the longer "dripped" to preserve meter or achieve a rhyme with words like "equipped" or "gripped." The word derives from "drip," an old Germanic verb imitative of the sound and motion of falling liquid, closely related to "drop." In present-day English, "dript" appears almost exclusively in poetry, hymnody, and quotations of historical texts; ordinary speech and writing use "dripped" without exception. Encountering "dript" therefore signals a register that is consciously archaic, elevated, or lyrical, and readers can safely treat it as equivalent in meaning to "dripped" while recognizing its stylistic coloring.
verb (archaic/literary past tense and past participle of "drip")"Dript" is a literary or archaic variant of "dripped," the past tense and past participle of the verb "drip," meaning to fall or let fall in drops, or to be wet with falling drops.
- Past tense and past participle of "drip": fell or let fall in drops (chiefly literary/archaic).
"Rain dript steadily from the eaves throughout the night."
"The candle wax had dript down the side of the bottle."
"Sweat dript from his brow as he climbed the final ridge."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dript
"Dript" comes from "drip," a verb of Old English origin (related to "drop") that imitates the sound of liquid falling in beads. Like many short verbs, it once allowed both a simple dental-suffix form ("dript") and a doubled-consonant form ("dripped"); poets long preferred "dript" for its brevity. Standard modern usage has settled on "dripped," leaving "dript" as an archaic or poetic survival.
How dript is actually used
"Dript" is not standard modern English; contemporary writing uses "dripped." It survives mainly in poetry, hymns, and older literary prose where the shorter form suits rhythm or rhyme. Using it today reads as deliberately archaic or stylized.
Easily confused with dript
"Dripped" is the standard modern past tense of "drip," while "dript" is a poetic or archaic shortened form used mainly for meter in literature.