drought Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a shortage of rainfall
    drouth.
    • farmers most affected by the drought hope that there may yet be sufficient rain early in the growing season
  2. noun a prolonged shortage
    drouth.
    • when England defeated Pakistan it ended a ten-year drought

WordNet

Drought noun
Etymology
OE. droght, drougth, dru, AS. druga, from drugian to dry. See Dry, and cf. Drouth, which shows the original final sound.
Definitions
  1. Dryness; want of rain or of water; especially, such dryness of the weather as affects the earth, and prevents the growth of plants; aridity.
    The drought of March hath pierced to the root. Chaucer.
    In a drought the thirsty creatures cry. Dryden.
  2. Thirst; want of drink. Johnson.
  3. Scarcity; lack.
    A drought of Christian writers caused a dearth of all history. Fuller.

Webster 1913