Dolorous vs Drab - What's the difference?
dolorous | drab |
Solemnly or ponderously sad.
* 1596 , , The Faerie Queene , Book 5, Canto 4:
* 1645 , , "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity", stanza 14:
* 1859 , , A Tale of Two Cities , ch. 30:
* '>citation
* 2001 June 24, Stefan Kanfer, "
Dull, uninteresting, particularly of colour.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=November 3
, author=David Ornstein
, title=Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke
, work=BBC Sport
A fabric, usually of thick wool or cotton, having a drab colour.
The colour of this fabric; a dun, dull grey, or or dull brownish yellow.
A wooden box, used in saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans.
(dated) A dirty or untidy woman; a slattern.
*
* 1956 , (John Creasey), Gideon's Week :
(dated) A promiscuous woman, a slut; a prostitute.
* 1957 , (Frank Swinnerton), The Woman from Sicily :
A box used in a saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans.
(obsolete) To consort with prostitutes.
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As an adjective dolorous
is solemnly or ponderously sad.As a noun drab is
beadle, catchpole.dolorous
English
Alternative forms
* (l)Adjective
(en adjective)- Through dolorous despaire, which she conceyved,
- Into the Sea her selfe did headlong throw,
- Thinking to have her griefe by death bereaved.
- . . . Hell itself will pass away,
- And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day.
- From this prison here of horror, whence I every hour tend nearer and nearer to destruction, I send you . . . the assurance of my dolorous and unhappy service.
Author, Teacher, Witness," Time :
- As World War II came to a close, the gaunt and dolorous child was liberated at yet another death camp, Buchenwald.
drab
English
Etymology 1
(etyl), meaning "color of undyed cloth", from (etyl) ).Xavier Delamarre, ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise : une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental , s.v. "drappo" (Paris: Errance, 2001).Adjective
(drabber)citation, page= , passage=In a drab first half, Ryan Shotton's drive was deflected on to a post and Jon Walters twice went close.}}
Noun
(en noun)Quotations
* (English Citations of "drab")Synonyms
* (fabric) (l)Derived terms
* (l)Etymology 2
Origin uncertain; probably compare Irish drabog, Gaelic .Noun
(en noun)- Old provincial society had [...] its brilliant young professional dandies who ended by living up an entry with a drab and six children for their establishment [...].
- The doss house emptied during the day; from ten o'clock until five or six in the evening, there was no one there except Mulliver, a drab who did some of the cleaning for him, and occasional visitors.
- Ineffable sarcasm underlined the word 'bride', suggesting that Mrs Mudge must be a drab who had married for respectability.
- (Shakespeare)