Definition of Tawry
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.
He rails from morning to night at essenced fops and
tawdry courtiers. Spectator.
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.
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.
He rails from morning to night at essenced fops and
tawdry courtiers. Spectator.
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.
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
TAWDRY. Garish, gawdy, with lace or staring and discordant
colours: a term said to be derived from the shrine
and altar of St. Audrey (an Isle of Ely saintess), which
for finery exceeded all others thereabouts, so as to
become proverbial; whence any fine dressed man or woman
said to be all St Audrey, and by contraction, all
tawdry.
- The Devil's Dictionary (Ambrose Bierce)
- Cheap and gaudy or showy.
- The Nuttall Encyclopedia
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