drab
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[edit] English
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Etymology 1
Middle English, meaning "color of undyed cloth", from Middle French drap (“cloth”), from Late Latin drappus (“drabcloth, kerchief”) (6th century, Vita Caesaris Arelatis)[1], from Gaulish *drappo,[2] from Proto-Indo-European *drep- (“to scratch, tear”) (compare Old Norse trof (“fringes”), trefja (“to rub, wear out”), Lithuanian drãpanos (“household linens”), Serbo-Croatian drápati (“to scratch, scrape”), Ancient Greek δρέπω (drépein, “to pluck”), Avestan drafša (“flag, banner”), Sanskrit द्रापि (drāpí, “mantle, gown”)).[3]
[edit] Noun
drab (plural drabs)
- A fabric, usually of thick wool or cotton, having a drab blee or colour.
- A wooden box, used in salt works for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans.
[edit] Quotations
- For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.
[edit] Synonyms
- (fabric): drabcloth
[edit] Translations
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Adjective
drab (comparative drabber, superlative drabbest)
- Dull, uninteresting, particularly of colour.
- 2011 November 3, David Ornstein, “Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke”, BBC Sport:
- In a drab first half, Ryan Shotton's drive was deflected on to a post and Jon Walters twice went close.
- 2011 November 3, David Ornstein, “Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke”, BBC Sport:
[edit] Translations
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[edit] Etymology 2
Origin uncertain; probably compare Irish drabog, Gaelic drabag (“dirty woman”).
[edit] Noun
drab (plural drabs)
- (dated) A dirty or untidy woman; a slattern.
- 1871, George Eliot, Middlemarch:
- 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.
- 1871, George Eliot, Middlemarch:
- (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.
- 1957, Frank Swinnerton, The Woman from Sicily:
[edit] Translations
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[edit] Synonyms
- (slut): See Wikisaurus:promiscuous woman
- (prostitute): See Wikisaurus:prostitute
[edit] Verb
drab (third-person singular simple present drabs, present participle drabbing, simple past and past participle drabbed)
- (obsolete) To consort with prostitutes.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, “act 2 scene 1 line 26”, in Hamlet:
- Quarrelling, drabbing - you may go so far.
- 1907, Justin Huntly McCarthy, Needles and pins, page 82:
- He did not relish the apparition of that Katherine, for when it appeared it seemed to bring with it a brother shadow that wore ragged clothes and tangled hair and foul linen, that drank from any flagon and drabbed with any doxy, that slept in tavern angles through hours of drunkenness, a thing whose fingers pillaged, filched, and pilfered when and where they could, a creature that once he saw whenever he stared into a mirror.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, “act 2 scene 1 line 26”, in Hamlet:
[edit] Anagrams
[edit] References
- ^ Jean-Paul Savignac, Dictionnaire français-gaulois, s.v. "drap" (Paris: la Différence, 2004), 123.
- ^ Robert K. Barnhart, ed., Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, s.v. "drab" (NY: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd., 2003).
- ^ Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise : une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental, s.v. "drappo" (Paris: Errance, 2001).
[edit] Romani
[edit] Noun
drab m.
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Gaulish
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English nouns
- English adjectives
- English dated terms
- English verbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- Romani nouns
