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Crossword clues for drab

drab
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
drab
adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Paul grew tired of his drab, depressing life.
▪ When I came to Manchester from Brazil everything seemed so drab and colourless.
▪ You enter the drab office building half-expecting it to be abandoned.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Augusta was not at her best yesterday on a drab, grey day.
▪ Canvassing one day in a by-election in Essex, Martin was asked to cover a street of drab brick semis.
▪ I liked the town, for all its drab and muted calm; it seemed a safe place to be.
▪ She seemed to like her drab vista.
▪ Their clothes hung loosely on their frames, drab coats and washed-out dresses covered with a film of dust.
▪ Unfortunately, much of the drab utilitarianism of urban existence has come to be associated with the design philosophy of functionalism.
▪ We figured it was a bonus for having to put up with that drab Sunday issue.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Drab

Drab \Drab\, n. [F. drap cloth: LL. drappus, trapus, perh. orig., a firm, solid stuff, cf. F. draper to drape, also to full cloth; prob. of German origin; cf. Icel. drepa to beat, strike, AS. drepan, G. treffen; perh. akin to E. drub. Cf. Drape, Trappings.]

  1. A kind of thick woolen cloth of a dun, or dull brownish yellow, or dull gray, color; -- called also drabcloth.

  2. A dull brownish yellow or dull gray color.

Drab

Drab \Drab\ (dr[a^]b), n. [AS. drabbe dregs, lees; akin to D. drab, drabbe, dregs, G. treber; for sense 1, cf. also Gael. drabag a slattern, drabach slovenly. Cf. Draff.]

  1. A low, sluttish woman.
    --King.

  2. A lewd wench; a strumpet.
    --Shak.

  3. A wooden box, used in salt works for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans.

Drab

Drab \Drab\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drabbed; p. pr. & vb. n. Drabbing.] To associate with strumpets; to wench.
--Beau. & Fl.

Drab

Drab \Drab\, a. Of a color between gray and brown. -- n. A drab color.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
drab

1680s, "color of natural, undyed cloth," from Middle French drap (see drape (n.)). Figurative sense is c.1880. Apparently not related to earlier word meaning "a dirty, untidy woman" (1510s), "a prostitute" (1520s), which seems to be connected with Irish drabog, Gaelic drabag "dirty woman," and perhaps with Low German drabbe "dirt." Ultimately perhaps from PIE *dher- (1) "to make muddy." Meaning "small, petty debt" (the sense in dribs and drabs) is 1828, of uncertain connection to the other senses.

Wiktionary
drab

Etymology 1

  1. dull, uninteresting, particularly of colour. n. 1 A fabric, usually of thick wool or cotton, having a drab colour. 2 The colour of this fabric; a dun, dull grey, or or dull brownish yellow. 3 A wooden box, used in saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans. Etymology 2

    n. 1 (context dated English) A dirty or untidy woman; a slattern. 2 (context dated English) A promiscuous woman, a slut; a prostitute. 3 A box used in a saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans. v

  2. (context obsolete English) To consort with prostitutes.

WordNet
drab
  1. adj. lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise; "her drab personality"; "life was drab compared with the more exciting life style overseas"; "a series of dreary dinner parties" [syn: dreary]

  2. lacking brightness or color; dull; "drab faded curtains"; "sober Puritan gray"; "children in somber brown clothes" [syn: sober, somber, sombre]

  3. depressing in character or appearance; "drove through dingy streets"; "the dismal prison twilight"- Charles Dickens; "drab old buildings"; "a dreary mining town"; "gloomy tenements"; "sorry routine that follows on the heels of death"- B.A.Williams [syn: dingy, dismal, drear, dreary, gloomy, sorry]

  4. [also: drabbing, drabbed, drabbest, drabber]

Wikipedia
Drab

Drab may refer to:

  • An adjective for boring
  • Drab (color), a dull light brown color
  • Olive drab, a shade of green
  • an archaic term for a prostitute
Drab (color)

Drab is a dull light-brown color. It originally took its name from a fabric of the same color, made of undyed homespun wool. Drabs were clothes, especially trousers, made of this fabric.

The word was first used in English in the mid-16th century. It probably originated from the old French word drap, which meant cloth. The word gradually came to mean dull, lifeless and monotonous.

Usage examples of "drab".

None of them had any say in a change of earl--and the result of the vote would make no difference to their drab lives anyway--but they probably enjoyed watching the atheling lead in his army.

The drab robe curdled into a loathsome purple hide that squirmed with life.

There Margo saw Dariel Talcott, a tall, stoop-shouldered man with a drab, tired face.

Marine reservist, sitting dejectedly atop a pile of ammunition crates next to a large olive drab painted van, was astonished at the clockwork precision of the SGRCP as they formed a double line of club-and shield-bearing skirmishers, in front, rifle-carrying men and women behind.

The drab wash of the rainy Auburn twilight leaked through the partially polarized window, giving the one-room doss a dull, tired illumination that perfectly suited my mood.

Somebody at the Security Service was eager to let CIA know what was going on with the subject about which Langley clearly had some interest, and so whatever dribs and drabs of information came in were immediately dispatched to CIA, and thence to Fort Meade, which was scanning the ether waves for any resulting interest from the terrorist community around the world.

It was too weak and collapsed, so she and Judy had to ferry them up in dribs and drabs.

The children came out in dribs and drabs, and it was not until shortly after twenty past three that Nandira walked out of the school entrance, carrying her schoolbag in one hand and a book in the other.

Brigade must be husbanded, not frittered away by being committed to the battle in dribs and drabs.

Treadwell had also gotten out to his squad, and they had been returning to the office in dribs and drabs, catching up on things, getting the further notice that Batiste was personally okaying the overtime they needed to serve subpoenas, write their reports, do their work.

The zombies that trickled south from the decoy missions arrived in dribs and drabs and were easily burned from the air by dragon fire.

And so Crown Prince Vindax flew on to Ninar Foan, a bleak and forbidding castle looming over a drab town, its rough stone walls swept by the chill winds of the Rand and lit by a reluctant red sun.

The Fondaco itself was a post office now, drab, artless, without vibration.

A pale, petite woman with long auburn hair, she wore the drab blue one-piece uniform with the flag of Izar emblazoned over the heart that indicated an Izarian peace officer.

The conservatively styled BMWs and Infinitis looked drab in contrast, though somebody had spiced up his love life with one of those kicky little BMW Z4 Roadsters in sleek, polished silver.