drab
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɹæb/
rhymes: -æb
Forms: form: drabber
form: drabbest
Etymology: Probably from Middle French and Old French drap (“cloth”), either:
* from Late Latin drappus (“drabcloth, kerchief; piece of cloth”), most likely from Gaulish *drappo, from Proto-Indo-European *drep- (“to scratch, tear”); or
* from Frankish *drapi, *drāpi (“that which is fulled, drabcloth”), from Proto-Germanic *drap-, *drēp- (“something beaten”), from *drepaną (“to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrebʰ- (“to beat, crush; to make or become thick”).
The English word is cognate with Ancient Greek δρέπω (drépō, “to pluck”), Avestan 𐬛𐬭𐬀𐬟𐬱𐬀 (drafša, “banner, flag”), Lithuanian drãpanos (“household linens”), Old Norse trefja (“to rub, wear out”), trof (“fringes”), Sanskrit द्रापि (drāpi, “mantle, gown”), Serbo-Croatian drápati (“to scratch, scrape”)).
Senses: examples: text: The coffee presently appeared, brought not as usual by the footman, in scarlet and drab, but by the old butler, in threadbare but well-brushed black, [...]
ref: 1857, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “[Mr Gilfil’s Love-story.] Chapter II”, in Scenes of Clerical Life […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published January 1858, →OCLC, page 190:
glosses: Of the color of some types of drabcloth: dull brownish yellow or dun.
examples: text: [T]he man was about fifty-two—had a ſmall cane under his arm—was dreſs'd in a dark drab-colour'd coat, waiſtcoat, and breeches, which ſeem'd to have seen ſome years ſervice—they were ſtill clean, and there was a little air of frugal propretè throughout him.
ref: 1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], “The Mystery. Paris.”, in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volume II, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […], →OCLC, page 104:
text: Year by year they will find her with even thinner hair, sharper shoulders, drabber cheeks; and he, looking upon her with the forgiveness of complete indifference, will say to himself, "She is bad, and she is ugly; I was well rid of her!"
ref: 1869 December, [Rhoda Broughton], “Red as a Rose is She”, in Temple Bar: A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers, volume XXVIII, London: Richard Bentley, […]; New York, N.Y.: Willmer and Rogers, published March 1870, →OCLC, chapter XXXI, page 11:
text: Have you no longing ever to be free? / In warm, electric days to run a-muck, / Ranging like some mad dinosaur, / Your fiery heart at war / With this strange world, the city's restless ruck, / Where all drab things that toil, save you alone, / Have life; [...]
ref: 1914, Eunice Tietjens, “The Steam Shovel”, in Harriet Monroe, Alice Corbin Henderson, editors, The New Poetry: An Anthology, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published February 1917 (March–April 1917 printing), page 342, lines 29–35:
text: The more he basked in golden dreams the drabber seemed his humdrum life behind the bank counter.
ref: 1923 April, Harold Steevens, “The Duplicate Cheque”, in [Herbert Greenhough Smith], editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume LXV, London: George Newnes, Ltd., […], →OCLC, page 345, column 1:
text: Furniture is comical. It responds to humans. For some it looks its drabbest, for others it sparkles and looks, if not handsome, at any rate comfortable.
ref: 1944, Emily Carr, “Sounds and Silences”, in The House of All Sorts, Toronto, Ont.; London: Oxford University Press, →OCLC, page 10:
text: And what if your daughter admires him even more / And comes to choose him for her life's companion, / Not the drab complainer she ended up with.
ref: 1997, Carl Dennis, “Sarit Narai”, in Robert Pack, Jay Parini, editors, Introspections: American Poets on One of Their Own Poems, Hanover, N.H.; London: Middlebury College Press; published by University Press of New England, →ISBN, pages 59–60:
text: In a drab first half, Ryan Shotton's drive was deflected on to a post and Jon Walters twice went close.
ref: 2011 November 3, David Ornstein, “Macc Tel-Aviv 1 – 2 Stoke”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 26 Mar 2019:
glosses: Particularly of color: dull, uninteresting.
Derived terms: drabbish
drabby
drably
drabness
drabware
olive drab