Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Tawdry
Taw′dry
,Adj.
[
Com
par.
Tawdrier
; sup
erl.
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
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.
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
Them
tawdries
for their necks. Drayton.
Webster 1828 Edition
Tawdry
TAW'DRY
,Adj.
He rails from morning to night at essenced fops and tawdry courtiers.
TAW'DRY
,Noun.
Definition 2024
tawdry
tawdry
English
Adjective
tawdry (comparative tawdrier, superlative tawdriest)
- (of clothing, appearance, etc.) Cheap and gaudy; showy.
- 1823, Sir Walter Scott, Quentin Durward, ch. 33:
- The rest of his dress—a dress always sufficiently tawdry—was overcharged with lace, embroidery, and ornament of every kind, and the plume of feathers which he wore was so high, as if intended to sweep the roof of the hall.
- 1917, Alice Hegan Rice, Calvary Alley, ch. 20:
- It was all cheap and incredibly tawdry, from the festoons of paper roses on the walls to the flash of paste jewels in make-believe crowns.
- 1823, Sir Walter Scott, Quentin Durward, ch. 33:
- (of character, behavior, situations, etc.) Unseemly, base, shameful.
- 1918, Stewart Edward White, The Forty-Niners, ch. 1:
- [T]he "greaser" was a dirty, idle, shiftless, treacherous, tawdry vagabond, dwelling in a disgracefully primitive house, and backward in every aspect of civilization.
- 1920, E. Phillips Oppenheim, The Great Impersonation, ch. 16:
- The woman's passion by his side seemed suddenly tawdry and unreal, the seeking of her lips for his something horrible.
- 2008 August 9, Clemente Lisi, "Lusty Lies of Don Juan John," New York Post (retrieved 16 Dec 2013):
- After months of flat-out lying to the public, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards finally copped to having a sleazy extramarital fling. . . . The tawdry affair has dogged Edwards over the past few months.
- 1918, Stewart Edward White, The Forty-Niners, ch. 1:
Synonyms
- (of clothing, personal appearance, etc.): See Wikisaurus:gaudy
- (unseemly, base, shameful): sordid
Translations
gaudy
References
- tawdry at OneLook Dictionary Search