tawdry
Tawdry laceTawdry lace.
Meaning
2 senses(countable, obsolete, uncountable)Tawdry lace.
(countable, obsolete, uncountable)Anything gaudy and cheap; pretentious finery.
Examples
1 sentencesWhat a tawdry dress!
ruДо чего безвкусное платье! — Olya
Origin
Shortened from tawdry lace; originally a corruption and rebracketing of Saint Audrey laceShortened from tawdry lace; originally a corruption and rebracketing of Saint Audrey lace (from Old English Æðelþrȳð). The lace necklaces sold to pilgrims to Saint Audrey fell out of fashion in the 17th century, and so tawdry was reinterpreted as meaning “cheap” or “vulgar”.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.