A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

drive see also BAD money drives out good; HUNGER drives the wolf out of the wood; NEEDS must when the Devil drives; ONE nail drives out another.
drop see the LAST drop makes the cup run over.
dropping see CONSTANT dropping wears away a stone.
drowned see if you’re BORN to be hanged then you’ll never be drowned.
A DROWNING man will clutch at a straw
One grabs at the slightest chance when all hope is slipping away. Clutch is comparatively recent and is more suggestive of desperation than the earlier catch. To clutch at a straw (or straws) is frequently used as a metaphorical phrase.

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  1534 MORE Dialogue of Comfort (1553) iii. Lyke a man that in peril of drowning catcheth whatsoeuer cometh next to hand.. be it neuer so simple a sticke. 1583 J. PRIME Fruitful & Brief Discourse I. 30 We do not as men redie to be drowned, catch at euery straw. 1623 J. HALL Contemplations VII. xix. 252 The drowning man snatches at every twig. .. The messengers of Benhadad catch hastily at that stile of grace, and hold it fast. 1748 RICHARDSON Clarissa VII. i. A drowning man will catch at a straw, the Proverb well says. 1877 W. COLLINS My Lady’s Money xv. His gratitude caught at those words, as the drowning man is said to catch at the proverbial straw. 1915 CONRAD Victory IV. viii. Wang seemed to think my insistence.. very stupid and tactless. But a drowning man clutches at straws. 1967 RIDOUT & WITTING English Proverbs Explained 49 A drowning man will clutch at a straw. 1967 T. STOPPARD Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead III. 80 We drift down time, clutching at straws. But what good’s a brick to a drowning man? "hope and despair
  

drunken see CHILDREN and fools tell the truth; HEAVEN protects children, sailors, and drunken men.
druv (drove, driven): see SUSSEX won’t be druv.