mid-15c., drippe, "a drop of liquid," from drip (v.). From 1660s as "a falling or letting fall in drops." Medical sense of "continuous slow introduction of fluid into the body" is by 1933. The slang meaning "stupid, feeble, or dull person" is by 1932, perhaps from earlier American English slang sense "nonsense" (by 1919).
c. 1300, drippen, "to fall in drops; let fall in drops," from Old English drypan, also dryppan, from Proto-Germanic *drupjanan (source also of Old Norse dreypa, Middle Danish drippe, Dutch druipen, Old High German troufen, German triefen), perhaps from a PIE root *dhreu-. Related to droop and drop. Related: Dripped; dripping.
"drivel, slobber, drip saliva, as an infant does," 1802, drule, apparently a dialectal variant or contraction of drivel. Related: Drooled; drooling. The noun is from 1869.
also distil, late 14c., distillen, "to let fall in drops" (transitive); early 15c., "to drop, trickle, drip, fall in drops" (intransitive), from Old French distiller (14c.), from Latin distillare "trickle down in minute drops," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + stillare "to drip, drop," from stilla "drop," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps from a PIE root *sti-. De Vaan compares Greek stile "drop;" Lithuanian styri "to become stiff," Old Norse stira "to be rigid, stiff," but has doubts about all of them. From late 14c. as "obtain or extract by distillation;" from c. 1400 as "subject to distillation." Related: Distilled; distilling.
word-forming element in pathology meaning "condition of the blood," Modern Latin combining form of Greek haima (genitive haimatos) "blood," a word of no established etymology (replacing the usual IE word, represented in Greek by ear; possibly from uncertain PIE root *sei- "to drip" (compare Old High German seim "virgin honey," Welsh hufen), but according to Beekes this proposal "cannot explain the Greek vocalism."
