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dowdy

adj
/ˈdaʊdi/UK

Etymology

First appears c. 1581. Origin uncertain, probably literally "little poorly dressed woman," formed from doue, "poorly dressed woman". Possibly also related to the Scots dow, meaning to "fade".

  1. derived from dow

Definitions

  1. Plain and unfashionable in style or dress.

  2. Lacking stylishness or neatness

    Lacking stylishness or neatness; shabby.

    • [...she was] a perfect saint amongst women, but so dreadfully dowdy that she reminded one of a badly bound hymn-book.
    • Miss Marina Thompson, a distant cousin of my husband's. She's rather dowdy, is she not?

  3. A plain or shabby person.

    • “I knew there were women-dowdies in Bengal. They come up here sometimes. But I didn't know that there were men-dowds, too.”
    • The men are all dowdies and the women are all dandies, aren't they?
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. To press the crust into the filling during baking, to allow the juices to caramelize on…

      To press the crust into the filling during baking, to allow the juices to caramelize on top.

      • Topping the apples with squares of dough allowed steam to escape during baking, preventing the apples from overcooking. Dowdying the crust partway through created the dessert's sweet finish.

    2. A surname from Irish.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for dowdy. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA