Hypertext Webster Gateway: "tawdry"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Tawdry \Taw"dry\, a. [Compar. {Tawdrier}; superl. {Tawdriest}.]
[Said to be corrupted from Saint Audrey, or Auldrey, meaning
Saint Ethelreda, implying therefore, originally, bought at
the fair of St. Audrey, where laces and gay toys of all sorts
were sold. This fair was held in Isle Ely, and probably at
other places, on the day of the saint, which was the 17th of
October.]
1. Bought at the festival of St. Audrey. [Obs.]
And gird in your waist, For more fineness, with a
tawdry lace. --Spenser.
2. Very fine and showy in colors, without taste or elegance;
having an excess of showy ornaments without grace; cheap
and gaudy; as, a tawdry dress; tawdry feathers; tawdry
colors.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Tawdry \Taw"dry\, n.; pl. {Tawdries}.
A necklace of a rural fashion, bought at St. Audrey's fair;
hence, a necklace in general. [Obs.]
Of which the Naiads and the blue Nereids make Them
tawdries for their necks. --Drayton.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
tawdry
adj 1: tastelessly showy; "a flash car"; "a flashy ring"; "garish
colors"; "a gaudy costume"; "loud sport shirts"; "a
meretricious yet stylish book"; "tawdry ornaments"
[syn: {brassy}, {cheap}, {flash}, {flashy}, {garish},
{gaudy}, {gimcrack}, {loud}, {meretricious}, {tacky},
{tatty}, {trashy}]
2: cheap and shoddy; "cheapjack moviemaking...that feeds on the
low taste of the mob"- Judith Crist [syn: {cheapjack}, {shoddy}]
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