Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Dowdy"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Dowdy \Dow"dy\, a. [Compar. {Dowdier}; superl. {Dowdiest}.]
[Scot. dawdie slovenly, daw, da sluggard, drab, Prov. E. dowd
flat, dead.]
Showing a vulgar taste in dress; awkward and slovenly in
dress; vulgar-looking. -- {Dow"di*ly}, adv. -- {Dow"di*ness},
n.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Dowdy \Dow"dy\, n.; pl. {Dowdies}.
An awkward, vulgarly dressed, inelegant woman. --Shak.
Dryden.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
dowdy
adj 1: lacking in smartness or taste; "a dowdy gray outfit"; "a
clean and sunny but completely dowdy room"
2: primly out of date; "nothing so frumpish as last year's
gambling game" [syn: {frumpy}, {frumpish}]
n 1: British Marshal of the RAF who commanded the British air
defense forces that defeated the Luftwaffe during the
Battle of Britain (1882-1970) [syn: {Dowding}, {Hugh
Dowding}, {Baron Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding}, {Dowdy}]
2: deep-dish apple dessert covered with a rich crust [syn: {pandowdy}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.