Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also dredd) a Rastafarian.

1968		L. Barrett Rastafarians (1977) 130: A Montego Bay ‘dread’ described his experience of ganja.
1980		(con. 1950s) M. Thelwell Harder They Come 123: So that is what Rastaman dem look like? [...] No wonder dem call dem ‘dread’.
1983		G. Tate ‘King Sunny Adé’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 61: The aggressively aloof cool of dreads.
1992		V. Headley Yardie 36: The young dread would always find something for him to eat.
1997		C. Newland Scholar 73: The Dredd opened his wide-muscled arms [...] ‘Wha’ you ah say Rudebwoys’.
1999		(con. 1979–80) A. Wheatle Brixton Rock (2004) 76: A beastman questioning a dread.
2004		A. Mansbach ‘Crown Heist’ in Brooklyn Noir 124: All the old dreads [...] chanting down Babylon.
2006		R. Antoni Carnival 183: ‘No dreads inside here,’ the guy shouted [...] ‘And no upstart niggers, neither!’.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 29: Uncle T [...] used to be a dread and one day [...] he showed me his locks.

2. one who wears dreadlocks but follows no other Rastafarian teachings.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

3. the beliefs, practice or expression of Rastafarianism.

1968		L. Barrett Rastafarians (1977) 138: To the Rastafarians it signifies power, freedom, and defiance. ‘Dread’ means rebellion or a certain pattern of behaviour outside of society.
1978		D. Hebdige Subculture 35: The ‘dread’ [...] the Messianic feel of this ‘heavy’ reggae.

4. a youngster, usu. a male teenager, who shows off by taking dangerous risks.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

5. (also dred) dreadlocks; usu. in pl.

1992		J. Mowry Way Past Cool 60: The small kid with his childlike potbelly, and long, tangled dreads.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 20: The forest of short dreds that top his head [...] are crushed to one side.
2000		N. Barlay Crumple Zone 16: Slumming trustafarians in their Goa chic and blonde dreds.
2000		Observer Rev 26 Mar. 3: There was this geezer who had dreads.
2008		Sun. Times (S. Afr.) 27 Jan. 21: Employers still tell competent candidates to remove their dreads or cut their braids to conform with a corporate environment.

6. (also dready) as a term of address; the person addressed need not be a Rastafarian or wear dreadlocks.

2001		(con. 1981) A. Wheatle East of Acre Lane 162: [to a rasta] Pay me some dollars, dread. [Ibid.] 209: [to a non-rasta friend] Don’t want ’im to see me, dread.
2003		Burning Spear ‘Hey Dready!’ 🎵 When some people see a Rastaman, not knowing his name [...] the first thing they say is ‘ey Dready!’.