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Tawdry

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Showy, worthless finery; a corruption of St. Audrey. At the annual fair of St. Audrey, in the isle of Ely, showy lace called St. Audrey’s lace was sold, and gave foundation to our word tawdry, which means anything gaudy, in bad taste, and of little value. (See Tanthony.)

Tawdry. ‘Astrigmenta, timbriæ, sen fasciolæ, emptæ nundinis S. Ethelredæ.ʹ”—Henshawe.


“Come, you promised me a tawdry lace and a pair of sweet gloves.”—Winter’s Tale, iv. 4.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Tartaros (Greek), Tartarus (Latin)
Tartuffe
Tassel-Gentle
Tasselled Gentleman
Tatianists
Tatterdemalion
Tattoo
Tattoo (To)
Tau
Taurus [the Bull]
Tawdry
Tawny (The)
Taylor
Taylor’s Institute
Tohin
Tohow Dynasty
Te Deum, etc.
Te Igitur
Teague (A)
Teakettle Broth
Tean or Teian Poet

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Tanthony (St. Anthony)