drutherv.
/ˈdrʌðə/ U.S. regional.
(I, you, etc.) would rather (see rather adv. 8f).
ΚΠ
1876 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Tom Sawyer ix. 89 I'd druther [sc. rather] they was devils a dern sight.
1896 ‘M. Twain’ Tom Sawyer, Detective ix. 74 ‘Any way you druther have it, that is the way I druther have it. He—— .’ ‘There ain't any druthers about it, Huck Finn; nobody said anything about druthers.’
Derivatives
ˈdruther n. (also 'druthers, ˈruther, ˈruthers) a choice, preference.
ΚΠ
1895 Dial. Notes 1 388 Bein's I caint have my druthers an' set still, I cal'late I'd better pearten up an' go 'long.
1941 W. A. Percy Lanterns on Levee xxii. 292 ‘Your ruthers is my ruthers’ (what you would rather is what I would rather). Certainly the most amiable and appeasing phrase in any language, the language used being not English but deep Southern.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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