In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
cheapjack, shoddy, tawdry
(adjective) made of inferior workmanship and materials; “cheapjack moviemaking...that feeds on the low taste of the mob”- Judith Crist
brassy, cheap, flash, flashy, garish, gaudy, gimcrack, loud, meretricious, tacky, tatty, tawdry, trashy
(adjective) tastelessly showy; “a flash car”; “a flashy ring”; “garish colors”; “a gaudy costume”; “loud sport shirts”; “a meretricious yet stylish book”; “tawdry ornaments”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
tawdry (uncountable)
(obsolete) Tawdry lace. [17th c.]
(obsolete) Anything gaudy and cheap; pretentious finery. [17th–19th c.]
tawdry (comparative tawdrier, superlative tawdriest)
(of clothing, appearance, etc.) Cheap and gaudy; showy.
(of character, behavior, situations, etc.) Unseemly, base, shameful.
• (of clothing, personal appearance, etc.): See gaudy
• (unseemly, base, shameful): sordid
Source: Wiktionary
Taw"dry, a. [Compar. Tawdrier; superl. Tawdriest.] Etym: [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 (.
Definition: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
1 March 2025
(adjective) (chemistry) of or relating to or containing one or more benzene rings; “an aromatic organic compound”
In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.