Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A violent young gang member or a hooligan.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Russian друг (drug, "friend"), in which sense it is used in the invented slang in Anthony Burgess's dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange (1962).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word droog.

Examples

  • Alex is a "droog" - a juvenile delinquent who lives for sex, violence and subcult high fashion.

    doggdot.us 2009

  • We even have 'droog' saying the opinion of a coal chemist is worthless.

    On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009

  • The South Indian word "droog" for a great fortified hill early became absorbed into the English language.

    Through Colonial Spectacles: the Irish Vizier and the Female-Knight in James Cobb 2000

  • Russian has three: znakomyy, which has the same root as acquaintance, droog, which is generally translated as friend, and priyatel’, the root of which is the same as the root of the Russian word for “pleasant”; priyatel’ thus means something like “someone with whom it’s pleasant to be,” and means something between znakomyy and droog.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Russians and friendship: 2004

  • There's a scene in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange in which ultra-violent "droog" Alex DeLarge, played by Malcolm McDowell, undergoes "aversion therapy" to cure his violent tendencies by being forced to watch violent films while given drugs to induce a nauseated reaction, so that every time he feels violent, he'll get sick.

    mjsbigblog 2009

  • I looked up the word droogkloot, I already knew it was Dutch because of the word 'droog', which is a gallery in Amsterdam/Tokyo/New York (I visited the New York one of four separate occasions and it was only open once, so check their opening times if you're planning a visit), but 'kloot' was aliean too me.

    Hide Your Arms 2009

  • Using the visual, audio, kinetic and print forms, her new lingo reads like a wild blend of Chaucer, SMS-speak and Anthony Burgess's droog slang.

    This week's new exhibitions 2010

  • There was now like a sea of vonny runny dirty old men trying to get at me with their like feeble rookers and horny old claws, creeching and panting on to me, but our crystal droog was there in front, dealing out tolchock after tolchock.

    Where's the show? John Myles Aavedal 2010

  • The driver finished the page he was reading and put his book away, then he started the auto and they were off townwards, my ex - droog and ex-enemy waving.

    Where's the show? John Myles Aavedal 2010

  • For ideas, they could start by visiting Industry Gallery down on Florida NE, or even peek at droog. com.

    Modern design and an empty storefront 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Neologism first appearing in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, probably as a direct transliteration of the Russian дроог.

    December 27, 2006

  • Meaning "Friend" in Nadsat, the droogs in A Clockwork Orange were usually companions in violence and public disturbance.

    January 7, 2009

  • The Russian word phonetically transcribed as droog is written thus in Cyrillic characters: друг. This is an amendment of billifer's comment.

    February 25, 2013