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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Tawdry \Taw"dry\, adjective [Compar. {Tawdrier}; superl. {Tawdriest}.] [Said to be corrupted from Saint Audrey, or Auldrey, meaning Saint Ethelreda, implying therefore, originally, bought at the fair of St. Audrey, where laces and gay toys of all sorts were sold. This fair was held in Isle Ely, and probably at other places, on the day of the saint, which was the 17th of October.]
1. Bought at the festival of St. Audrey. [Obs.]
And gird in your waist, For more fineness, with a tawdry lace. --Spenser.
2. Very fine and showy in colors, without taste or elegance; having an excess of showy ornaments without grace; cheap and gaudy; as, a tawdry dress; tawdry feathers; tawdry colors.
He rails from morning to night at essenced fops and tawdry courtiers. --Spectator.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Tawdry \Taw"dry\, noun; pl. {Tawdries}. A necklace of a rural fashion, bought at St. Audrey's fair; hence, a necklace in general. [Obs.]
Of which the Naiads and the blue Nereids make Them tawdries for their necks. --Drayton.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
tawdry
adjective
1: tastelessly showy; "a flash car"; "a flashy ring"; "garish colors"; "a gaudy costume"; "loud sport shirts"; "a meretricious yet stylish book"; "tawdry ornaments" [syn: {brassy}, {cheap}, {flash}, {flashy}, {garish}, {gaudy}, {gimcrack}, {loud}, {meretricious}, {tacky}, {tatty}, {trashy}]
2: cheap and shoddy; "cheapjack moviemaking...that feeds on the low taste of the mob"- Judith Crist [syn: {cheapjack}, {shoddy}] [also: {tawdriest}, {tawdrier}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
37 Moby Thesaurus words for "tawdry": blatant, brazen, brazenfaced, brummagem, cheap, cheapjack, chintzy, colorful, common, crude, extravagant, flagrant, flaring, flashy, flaunting, garish, gaudy, glaring, gorgeous, loud, lurid, meretricious, obtrusive, plastic, screaming, sensational, shabby, shameless, showy, sleazy, spectacular, tacky, tatty, tinny, tinsel, tinselly, vulgar
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |