shoddy
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
- Unknown, but possibly from shoad (“loose stone and rubble”), from Old English scádan (“to divide”), or possibly from the Arabic word for reuse. Shoad was of inferior quality for building.
- The modern adjectival sense was apparently derived from the use of inexpensive shoddy (“fabric from wool-processing byproduct”) for unsuitable applications such as for military uniforms at the beginning of the US Civil War.
Pronunciation [edit]
Adjective [edit]
shoddy (comparative shoddier, superlative shoddiest)
- Being of poor quality or construction
- Do not settle for shoddy knives if you are serious about cooking.
Translations [edit]
exhibiting poor quality
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Noun [edit]
shoddy (countable and uncountable; plural shoddies)
- A low-grade cloth made from by-products of wool processing, or from recycled wool.
- 1849, “A Statistical Outline of the Present Condition & Progress of the Anglo-Saxon Race”, The Anglo-Saxon, page 123:
- Formerly, shoddy cloth was “used only for padding, and such like purposes, but now blankets, flushings, druggets, carpets, and table covers, cloth for pilot and Petersham great” coats, &c., are either wholly or partly made of shoddy, which, in fact, is “occasionally worn by everybody. The beautiful woollen table covers are made wholly of shoddy, being printed by aqua-fortis from designs drawn in London and Manchester, and cut on holly and other blocks, on the spot.”
- 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 324:
- To fill contracts for hundreds of thousands of uniforms, textile manufacturers compressed the fibers of recycled woolen goods into a material called “shoddy”.
- 1849, “A Statistical Outline of the Present Condition & Progress of the Anglo-Saxon Race”, The Anglo-Saxon, page 123:
Translations [edit]
low-grade cloth made from used wool or wool byproducts
