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tawdrymore about tawdry

tawdry

 

  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Tawdry  \Taw"dry\,  a.  [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. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Tawdry  \Taw"dry\,  n.;  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  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  tawdry 
  adj  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}]




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