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Drab vs Commonplace - What's the difference?

drab | commonplace | Related terms |

In obsolete terms the difference between drab and commonplace

is that drab is to consort with prostitutes while commonplace is to utter commonplaces; to indulge in platitudes.

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)
  • 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 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)
  • 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.
    • Quotations
    * (English Citations of "drab")
    Synonyms
    * (fabric) (l)
    Derived terms
    * (l)

    Etymology 2

    Origin uncertain; probably compare Irish drabog, Gaelic .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (dated) A dirty or untidy woman; a slattern.
  • *
    • 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 [...].
  • * 1956 , (John Creasey), Gideon's Week :
    • 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.
  • (dated) A promiscuous woman, a slut; a prostitute.
  • * 1957 , (Frank Swinnerton), The Woman from Sicily :
    • Ineffable sarcasm underlined the word 'bride', suggesting that Mrs Mudge must be a drab who had married for respectability.
    (Shakespeare)
  • A box used in a saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans.
    • Synonyms
    * (slut) See * (prostitute) See

    Verb

    (drabb)
  • (obsolete) To consort with prostitutes.
  • *
  • *

    • Anagrams

    *

    References

    ----

    commonplace

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Ordinary; having no remarkable characteristics.
  • * 1824 , Sir (Walter Scott), , ch. 7:
    • "This Mr. Tyrrel," she said, in a tone of authoritative decision, "seems after all a very ordinary sort of person, quite a commonplace man."
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.}}
  • * 1911 , (w), (Under Western Eyes) , ch. 1:
    • I could get hold of nothing but of some commonplace phrases, those futile phrases that give the measure of our impotence before each other's trials.

    Synonyms

    * routine * undistinguished * unexceptional * See also

    Antonyms

    * distinguished * inimitable * unique

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A platitude or .
  • * 1899 , , Active Service , ch. 17:
    • Finally he began to mutter some commonplaces which meant nothing particularly.
  • * 1910 , , His Hour , ch. 4:
    • And something angered Tamara in the way the Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness.
  • Something that is ordinary.
  • * 1891 , , "A Case of Identity" in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes :
    • "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence."
  • A memorandum; something to be frequently consulted or referred to.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • Whatever, in my reading, occurs concerning this our fellow creature, I do never fail to set it down by way of commonplace .
  • A commonplace book.

    • Verb

    (commonplac)
  • To make a commonplace book.
  • To enter in a commonplace book, or to reduce to general heads.
  • * Felton
    • I do not apprehend any difficulty in collecting and commonplacing an universal history from the historians.
  • (obsolete) To utter commonplaces; to indulge in platitudes.
  • * 1910 , , His Hour , ch. 4:
    • And something angered Tamara in the way the Prince assisted in all this, out-commonplacing her friend in commonplaces with the suavest politeness.
    (Francis Bacon)

    Related terms

    * commonplace book English calques