Drab vs Flat - What's the difference?

Drab is a related term of flat.

As nouns the difference between drab and flat

is that drab is beadle, catchpole while flat is an area of level ground or flat can be (archaic|new england|now chiefly british) an apartment.

As an adjective flat is

having no variations in height.

As an adverb flat is

so as to be flat.

As a verb flat is

(poker slang) to make a flat call; to call without.

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

----

flat

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) flat, from (etyl) Flat] in (Online Etymology Dictionary) flatr (Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from (etyl) [http://ordnet.dk/ods/opslag?opslag=flad&submit=S%F8g Sanskrit, OHG and Greek cognates named.

Alternative forms

* , (l) (obsolete)

Adjective

(flatter)

Having no variations in height.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].}}

(of a tire or other inflated object) Deflated, especially because of a puncture.

(music, note) Lowered by one semitone.

(music) Of a note or voice, lower in pitch than it should be.

(music, voice) Without variations in pitch.

Of a carbonated drink, with all or most of its carbon dioxide having come out of solution so that the drink no longer fizzes or contains any bubbles.

Uninteresting.

* Coleridge

A large part of the work is, to me, very flat .

* Shakespeare

How weary, stale, flat , and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world.

(wine) Lacking acidity without being sweet.

Absolute.

(slang) Describing certain features, usually the breasts and/or buttocks, that are extremely small or not visible at all.

(of a battery) Unable to emit power; dead.

(juggling, of a throw) Without spin; spinless.

Lacking liveliness of commercial exchange and dealings; depressed; dull.

The market is flat .

(phonetics, dated, of a consonant) sonant; vocal, as distinguished from a sharp (non-sonant) consonant

(obsolete) Clear; unmistakable; peremptory; absolute; positive; downright.

* Shakespeare

flat burglary as ever was committed

* Marston

A great tobacco taker too, — that's flat .

Synonyms

* (having no variations in altitude) even, planar, plane, smooth, uniform * (deflated) deflated, punctured * (without variations in pitch) monotone * (uninteresting) boring, dull, uninteresting * flabby

Antonyms

* (having no variations in altitude) bumpy, cratered, hilly (of terrain), rough (of a surface), wrinkled (of a surface) * sharp * sharp

Derived terms

* flat as a pancake * flatcar * flat-footed * flatly * flatness * flat out * flat rate * flatten * that's flat

Adverb

(en adverb)

So as to be flat.

Spread the tablecloth flat over the table.

Bluntly.

I asked him if he wanted to marry me and he turned me down flat .

Not exceeding.

He can run a mile in four minutes flat .

Completely.

I am flat broke this month.

Directly; flatly.

* Herbert

Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty.

(finance, slang) Without allowance for accrued interest.

Synonyms

* (so as to be flat) * (bluntly) bluntly, curtly * (not exceeding) tops * (completely) absolutely, completely, utterly

Noun

(en noun)

An area of level ground.

* Francis Bacon

Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat .

* , chapter=3

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats . I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}

(music) A note played a semitone lower than a natural, denoted by the symbol sign placed after the letter representing the note (e.g.'', B?) or in front of the note symbol (''e.g. ??).

(informal, automotive) A flat tyre/tire.

* 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent.

(in the plural) A type of ladies' shoes with very low heels.

(painting) A thin, broad brush used in oil and watercolor/watercolour painting.

The part of something:

# (swordfighting) The side of a blade, as opposed to the sharp edge.

# The palm of the hand, with the adjacent part of the fingers.

A wide, shallow container.

(geometry) A subset of n-dimensional space that is congruent to a Euclidean space of lower dimension.

A flat-bottomed boat, without keel, and of small draught.

A straw hat, broad-brimmed and low-crowned.

(US) A railroad car without a roof, and whose body is a platform without sides; a platform car or flatcar.

A platform on a wheel, upon which emblematic designs etc. are carried in processions.

(mining) A horizontal vein or ore deposit auxiliary to a main vein; also, any horizontal portion of a vein not elsewhere horizontal.

(Raymond)

(obsolete) A dull fellow; a simpleton.

* Holmes

Or if you cannnot make a speech, / Because you are a flat .

(technical theatre) A rectangular wooden structure covered with masonite, lauan or muslin that can be raised as a platform.

Antonyms

* (note) sharp * (shoes) high heels

Derived terms

* mudflat

Verb

(poker slang) To make a flat call; to call without .

To become flat or flattened; to sink or fall to an even surface.

(intransitive, music, colloquial) To fall from the pitch.

(music) To depress in tone, as a musical note; especially, to lower in pitch by half a tone.

(dated) To make flat; to flatten; to level.

(dated) To render dull, insipid, or spiritless; to depress.

* Barrow

Passions are allayed, appetites are flatted .

Etymology 2

From 1795, alteration of (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

(archaic, New England, now chiefly British) An apartment.

Synonyms

* (apartment) apartment

Derived terms

* block of flats * flatlet * flatmate * flatter

References

Anagrams

* 1000 English basic words ----