D defs.my
Entry 3 senses Webster, 1913

Drought

/(drout)/ · IPA /dɹaʊt/
01 n. Dryness; want of rain or of water; especially, such dryness of the weather as affects the earth, and prevents the growth of plants; aridity.
  1. 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. 2.
    Thirst; want of drink.
  3. 3.
    Scarcity; lack.
    “A drought of Christian writers caused a dearth of all history.” Fuller.