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Gaudy vs Drab - What's the difference?

gaudy | drab |

As nouns the difference between gaudy and drab

is that gaudy is one of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited or gaudy can be a reunion held by one of the colleges of the university of oxford for alumni, normally held during the summer vacations while drab is beadle, catchpole.

As an adjective gaudy

is very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner.

gaudy

English

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain; perhaps from . A common claim that the word derives from , is not supported by evidence (the word was in use at least half a century before Gaudí was born).

Adjective

(er)
  • very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner
  • * Shakespeare
    • Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, / But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy .
  • * 1813 , , Pride and Prejudice
    • The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of its proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with admiration of his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less of splendour, and more real elegance, than the furniture of Rosings.
  • * 1887 , Homer Greene, Burnham Breaker
    • A large gaudy , flowing cravat, and an ill-used silk hat, set well back on the wearer's head, completed this somewhat noticeable costume.
  • * 2005 , Thomas Hauser & Marilyn Cole Lownes, "How Bling-bling Took Over the Ring", The Observer , 9 January 2005
    • Gaudy jewellery might offend some people's sense of style. But former heavyweight champion and grilling-machine entrepreneur George Foreman is philosophical about today's craze for bling-bling.
  • (obsolete) gay; merry; festive
    • (Tennyson)
  • * Shakespeare
    • Let's have one other gaudy night.
  • * Twain
    • And then, there he was, slim and handsome, and dressed the gaudiest and prettiest you ever saw...
    Synonyms
    * (excessively showy) tawdry, flashy, garish, kitschy *
    Derived terms
    * gaudily * gaudy night

    Noun

    (gaudies)
  • One of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited.
    • (Gower)

    Etymology 2

    From Latin gaudium "joy".

    Noun

    (gaudies)
  • A reunion held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford for alumni, normally held during the summer vacations.

    • 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

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