drab
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɹæb/
rhymes: -æb
Forms: form: drabs
Etymology: The origin of the noun is uncertain; compare Middle English drabelen, drablen, draplen (“to soil; make dirty; to drag on the ground or through mud”), and Low German drabbe (“dirt, mud”), drabbeln (“to soil”), and Old Norse drabba (“to make drab; make dirty”), the latter three ultimately from Proto-Germanic *drepaną (“to hit, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreb- (“to crush, grind; to kill”). The word is also likely to be related to Dutch drab (“dregs, sediment”), Irish drabog, Scottish Gaelic drabag (“dirty woman; slattern”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: [C]ertainly thou deſireſt but thy right, that canſt read a rhetorique, or logique lecture to Hecuba in the art of raving, and inſtruct Tiſiphone herſelfe in her owne gnaſhing language. Other he, or ſhe, drabs of the curſteſt or vengeableſt rankes, are but dipped or dyed in the art; not ſuch a belldam in the whole kingdome of frogges, as thy croking, and moſt clamorous ſelfe.
ref: 1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame, London: […] Iohn Wolfe, →OCLC; republished as John Payne Collier, editor, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. […] (Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I; no. 8), [London]: [s.n.], [1870], →OCLC, page 150:
text: [O]ld Lad of War; thou that were wont to be as hot as a turn-ſpit, as nimble as a fencer, & as lowzy as a ſchoole-maiſter; now thou art put to ſilence like a Secretarie? [...] who are your centinells in peace and ſtand ready charg'd to giue warning; with hems, hums, & pockey-coffs; only your Chambers are licenc'ſt to play vpon you, and Drabs enow to giue fire to 'em.
ref: 1607, W. S. [attributed to Thomas Middleton or William Shakespeare (doubtful)], The Pvritaine. Or The VViddovv of Watling-streete. […], imprinted at London: By G[eorge] Eld, →OCLC, Act I:
text: As ſtiff as a drabs diſtaff.
ref: 1660, James Hovvell [i.e., James Howell], “Diharebion Cymraeg, VVedu ei Cysiethu yn Saisoneg = British, or Old Cambrian Proverbs, and Cymraecan Adages, Never Englished, (and Divers Never Published) before. […]”, in Lexicon Tetraglotton, an English–French–Italian–Spanish Dictionary: […], Printed by J[ohn] G[rismond] for Samuel Thomson […], →OCLC, page 20:
text: Old provincial society had [...] its brilliant young professional dandies who ended by living up an entry with a drab and six children for their establishment, [...]
ref: 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XI, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 164:
text: The doss house emptied during the day; from ten o'clock until five or six in the evening, there was no one there except Mulliver, a drab who did some of the cleaning for him, and occasional visitors.
ref: 1956, J. J. Marric [pseudonym; John Creasey], “Father and Son”, in Gideon’s Week, London: Hodder & Stoughton, →OCLC, page 154; republished in Gideon at Work: Three Complete Novels: Gideon’s Day, Gideon’s Week, Gideon’s Night, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, 1957, →OCLC, page 250:
glosses: A dirty or untidy woman; a slattern.
examples: text: Take heed to false harlots, and more, ye wot what. / If noise ye heare, / Looke all be cleare: / Least drabs doe noie thee, / And theeues destroie thee.
ref: 1878, Thomas Tusser, “74. A Digression.”, in Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], 1878, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 166:
text: [T]hey ſay hee keepes a Troyan drab, and yſes the traytor Calcas tent, Ile after … —Nothing but letchery all incontinent varlots.
ref: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], lines 93–95:
text: Experience ſhewes, his Purſe ſhall ſoone grow light, / Whom Dice waſtes in the day, Drabs in the night: / Let all auoyde falſe Strumpets, Dice, and Drinke; / For hee that leaps in Mudde, ſhall quickly ſinke.
ref: 1611 December 27 (first performance), Io[hn] Cooke, Greenes Tu Quoque, or, The Cittie Gallant. […], printed at London: [By Nicholas Okes] for Iohn Trundle, published 1614, →OCLC:
text: Curs'd be the Wretch! ſo venal and ſo vain; / Paltry and proud, as drabs in Drury-lane.
ref: 1735, Alexander Pope, “[Satires of Dr. John Donne, Dean of St. Paul’s.] The Second Satire of Dr. John Donne.”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 49, lines 63–64:
text: Where the Red Lion ſtaring o'er the way, / Invites each paſſing ſtranger that can pay; / Where Calvert’s butt, and Parſon’s black champaign, / Regale the drabs and bloods of Drury-lane; [...]
ref: a. 1775, Oliver Goldsmith, “A Description of an Author’s Bed-chamber”, in Poems and Plays. […], new corrected edition, London: Printed for Messrs. Price [et al.], published 1785, →OCLC, page 10:
text: With these counsels, and many others equally valuable, did Papa Wick fortify Bobby ere that last awful night at Portsmouth when the Officers' Quarters held more inmates than were provided for by the Regulations, and the liberty-men of the ships fell foul of the drafts for India, and the battle raged from the Dockyard Gates even to the slums of Longport, while the drabs of Fratton came down and scratched the faces of the Queen's Officers.
ref: 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 135:
text: Ineffable sarcasm underlined the word 'bride', suggesting that Mrs Mudge must be a drab who had married for respectability.
ref: 1957, Frank Swinnerton, The Woman from Sicily, London: Hutchinson, →OCLC, page 194:
synonyms: word: NB: All terms are usually pejorative unless stated otherwise.
word: 304
word: alley cat
word: alleycat
word: amorette
word: amoret
word: amorosa
word: article
word: Athanasian wench
word: blowsabella
word: bop
word: chippy
word: cocotte
word: cockslut
word: cockwhore
word: crumpet
word: cum dumpster
word: cum guzzler
word: cumhole
word: cumslut
word: cumwhore
word: Cyprian
word: demimondaine
word: doxy
word: drab
word: eager beaver
word: Essex girl
word: flirt-gill
word: floogy
word: floosie
word: floosy
word: floozie
word: floozy
word: fornicator
word: fornicatour
word: fornicatress
word: fornicatrix
word: fuckstress
word: Fulham virgin
word: geebag
word: giglot
word: gillian
word: gill
word: good-time girl
word: grim
word: grisette
word: harlot
word: ho bag
word: ho-bag
word: hoe bag
word: hoe-bag
word: hoe
word: hoochie mama
word: hoochie
word: hood rat
word: ho
word: hussy
word: jade
word: jay
word: jillflirt
word: lady of light virtue
word: LBFM
word: light-o'-love
word: light-of-love
word: lightskirt
word: little brown fucking machine
word: loose woman
word: lorette
word: mab
word: manizer
word: minx
word: moll
word: mort wap-apace
word: nymphomaniac
word: painted Jezebel
word: puta
word: puzzel
word: quean
word: Quicumque vult
word: quiff
word: rig
word: scag
word: scrubber
word: skank
word: skettle
word: sket
word: skit
word: slag
word: slapper
word: slattern
word: sloven
word: slutbag
word: slut
word: stale
word: streel
word: strumpet
word: sweet cheeks
word: tartlet
word: tart
word: thotty
word: thot
word: town bicycle
word: town bike
word: tramp
word: treddle
word: trollop
word: trull
word: village bicycle
word: village bike
word: wagon
word: waistcoateer
word: wanton
word: wench
word: whore
word: abandons
word: alley cat
word: almah
word: bangtail
word: Bankside lady
word: bargirl
word: bat
word: beotch
word: blouze
word: blowen
word: blowsabella
word: brass nail
word: brasser
word: brass
word: broad
word: business girl
word: calico queen
word: callet
word: cat
word: chippy
word: chromo
word: coaster
word: cockatrice
word: cocotte
word: comfort girl
word: comfort woman
word: commoner
word: Covent Garden nun
word: creature of the night
word: croshabell
word: daughter of joy
word: dollymop
word: doxy
word: drab
word: Dutch widow
word: escort
word: fille de joie
word: flap
word: floozie
word: fornicatrix
word: frail sister
word: Fulham virgin
word: gamester
word: gay lady
word: geebag
word: gillian
word: gill
word: girl rented overnight
word: good-time girl
word: GRO
word: hackney
word: harlot
word: Haymarket ware
word: hireling
word: 'ho
word: hoer
word: hoe
word: hook
word: hooker
word: hustler
word: Japayuki-san
word: jay
word: karayuki-san
word: KTV girl
word: laced mutton
word: lady of leisure
word: lady of light virtue
word: lady of pleasure
word: lady of the evening
word: lady of the night
word: lightskirt
word: loose woman
word: lot lizard
word: meat puppet
word: meretrix
word: mermaid
word: minx
word: mob
word: moll
word: mort wap-apace
word: mot
word: mud kicker
word: mud-kicker
word: mudkicker
word: musk cat
word: mutton
word: nun
word: nymph of darkness
word: nymph of the pavé
word: nymph of the pavement
word: painted lady
word: Paphian
word: party girl
word: pavement princess
word: perdita
word: pimpette
word: pretty horsebreaker
word: priestess of Venus
word: pro skirt
word: prossie
word: prossy
word: pross
word: prostie
word: prostitute
word: prostitutor
word: prosty
word: prozzie
word: prozzy
word: pro
word: public woman
word: pucelle
word: puella publica
word: pug
word: punk
word: pussygirl
word: puta
word: put
word: quail
word: quean
word: quene
word: quiff
word: ribibe
word: scrubber
word: sex labourer
word: sex worker
word: skainsmate
word: skivvy
word: slag
word: slapper
word: slit
word: slut
word: sodomitess
word: soiled dove
word: stem siren
word: stew
word: street taco
word: strumpet
word: succubus
word: Suzi Wong
word: Suzie Wong
word: Suzy Wong
word: tart
word: tawaif
word: thotty
word: thot
word: tib
word: tom
word: treddle
word: trick turner
word: trollop
word: trug
word: trull
word: tweak
word: vice girl
word: wanton
word: wapping dell
word: wapping moll
word: wapping mort
word: wench
word: whore
word: woman of easy virtue
word: woman of ill fame
word: woman of ill repute
word: woman of the night
word: woman of the street
word: woman of the town
word: working girl
glosses: A promiscuous woman, a slut; a prostitute.