Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Shabby

Shab′by

,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Shabbier
;
sup
erl.
Shabbiest
.]
[See
Shab
,
Noun.
,
Scabby
, and
Scab
.]
1.
Torn or worn to rage; poor; mean; ragged.
Wearing
shabby
coats and dirty shirts.
Macaulay.
2.
Clothed with ragged, much worn, or soiled garments.
“The dean was so shabby.”
Swift.
3.
Mean; paltry; despicable;
as,
shabby
treatment
.
“Very shabby fellows.”
Clarendon.

Webster 1828 Edition


Shabby

SHAB'BY

,
Adj.
1. Ragged; torn or worn to rags; as a shabby coat; shabby clothes.
2. Clothed with ragged garments.
The dean was so shabby- Swift.
3. Mean; paltry; despicable; as a shabby fellow; shabby treatment. [For the idea expressed by shabby, there is not a better word in the language.]

Definition 2024


shabby

shabby

English

Adjective

shabby (comparative shabbier, superlative shabbiest)

  1. Torn or worn; poor; mean; ragged.
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Affair at the Novelty Theatre:
      Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.
    They lived in a tiny apartment, with some old, shabby furniture.
  2. Clothed with ragged, much worn, or soiled garments.
    The fellow arrived looking rather shabby after journeying so far.
  3. Mean; paltry; despicable.
    shabby treatment

Derived terms

  • shabby-genteel

Translations