DROPST.— See Medicikk.
DROSS (I'p, Kethibh no, sing, only in Ezk 22"*, elsewhere always plur. D-j-p, D')p, c':p). — For the process whereby dross was separated from the pure metal, see Furnace, Refiner. The word is severcJ times used in the OT metaphorically for what is base and worthless, e.g. Ps 119"' (of the wicked). Is !"• » Ezk 22'«- >» (of degenerate Israel).
J. A. Selbie.
DROUGHT.- See Crimks and Punishments, also Famine.
DROVE This word is the equivalent in A V of
two Heb. words. 1. i-\]i 'Ider (Gn 32'»- ">). 'Eder is elsewhere rendered yfocA (see Flock), except in one place (Jl 1"), where it occurs twice in the construct state, ii3?""i.iy, which is tr^ ' herds of cattle,' and jdvn -r\^ 'Jtocks of sheep.' 2. njqo mahdneh. This word, although rendered in Gn 33' AV drove, is rendered once in the same connexion (32^) bands, and twice (32*) company. This last, which is the correct tr., is adopted by RV (cf. Gn 50"). See Herd. G. E. Post.
DROWNING.— See Crimes and Punishments.
DRUNKENNESS.— The spectacle of men beside themselves through alcoholic drink has been familiar from the beginning of history, and all languages have terms in wliich to describe it. It is a subject that appears in the Bible, as in other ancient writings.
1. Some of the terms used in the Scriptures in connexion with drunkenness. — The Heb. has no word tliat describes this vice, like the Eng. wonls •drunken,' 'drunkard,' 'drunkenness,' 'inebriate,' In terms derived from the phynical act of drinking. It has two stems in common use {[shAkdh] and ihAtlUih, .ijp and ni\v) referring to the act of drink, ing J and each denotes inilitlcrently the drinking of water or wine or other liquids, drinking by men or by animals or by the ground. From one of these stems comes the word mashkeh, not often nsed, denoting a butler or cupbearer, one who serves wine at table (Neh 1", Gn 40' etc.). From the other comes the word mishteh, much used, denoting a formal feast, a banquet. This is often tr* by tlie Gr. tAt-oj, and once ( Est T') by avturbmov.
Like the Gr. word, it has in it the idea of a social feast as a gathering where men drink together. This shows that the idea of social drinking is older than the dillerentiation of the Heb. language. Hence it is the more remarkable that the words of these Heb. stems never, of themselves, denote either vicious carousal or intoxication. They are sometimes used in connexion with carousal or intoxication, but in such cases the author always adds other words to indicat* the vicious meaning. Even Ec 10" is not an exception to this. See Banquet.
A different stem is rdwdh ("n-i), occurring 14 times as a verb, and 6 times in all in the form of three different nouns. The idea is that of being brimful, or saturated, or soaked (Ps 23°, Job 37", Is 58" 16» 34"' etc.). It is possible to tr. the Heb., in every passage where these words occur, without recognizing an allusion to drunkenness. But LXX commonly tr. them by derivatives of fieffvcii or viva, and they are no doubt to be re- garded as denoting drunkenness. It is as when we speak of a habitually drunken man as a soaker, or as sodden with drink (Jer 46'", La 3").
Another stem, sdbhA (k??), is used in all 8 or 9 times. Its meaning is nearly that of our Eng. ' to guzzle,' that is, to drink intoxicants greedily, with stupefying effect. The active participle denotes the guzzler as in the act, the passive participle describes him as affected by the liquor, the noun denotes either the liquor or the act of guzzling (Is 56", Dt 2r'», Pr 23'»-^', Nah l'«. Is !■», Hos 4'»).
More important than all these is the stem sh/ikhar {-\iv)- The verb means to become in- toxicated, and in common use are the nouns shekhdr, 'intoxicating liquor' (see STRONG Drink); shikkor, 'drunkard,' and *Ai^^r(5n, 'drunkenness.' Many hold that the word is the same with our sugar, and that group of words in the Western languages. If so, the Heb. word and the Western word start together with the fact that sugar is present at the formation of alcohol, but follow entirely different lines of meaning. The usage of the Heb. stem is abundant and clear, leaving no doubt as to its meaning. Hebrew-speaking people were familiar with the spectacle of men overcome by alcohol, and they used the words of this stem to express this familiar fact.
In NT, and in Gr. VSS of OT, qnite a variety of terms are used, but we need mention only one group : iJU9ri, ' habitual intoxication ' ; ntBiiw, ' to be intoxicated ' ; iieBvaKui, ' to make intoxicated ' ; /uSia/m, 'an intoxicant'; fUdvaoi, 'intoxicated.' In their meaning and use (both literal and meta- phorical) the words of this groui) are similar to those of the Heb. group last mentioned.
2. Particulars given in the Bible concerning drunkenness. — The OT and NT passages that give these particulars, though numerous, are too familiar to need direct citation. If one needs to refer to them, they are easily found by the help of a concordance. Of apocr. passages one will ea.sily recall the contest concerning wine, kings, women, and truth, in 1 Es S*"- ; tlic drunkenneR.s of Holofemes, as described in Jtli 12*' 13'; tlie many references to drinking usages in Sir ; and other like passages.