tawdry

• adj. 非常华丽的；廉价而俗丽的
• n. 俗丽的东西；廉价而俗丽之物

来自 tawdry,女用丝巾，缩写自 tawdry lace,改写自 St.Audrey' lace,来自英国 7 世纪北方王国 Northumbria 皇后 St.Audrey,在其纪念日 Oct.17 每年集会通常会有类似丝巾出售，据说是因 于她喉咙上长有一个肿瘤，因此需佩带丝巾遮盖，她最后也死于该肿瘤。由于戴这种丝巾的 人太多，引申词义俗气的，花里故哨的。

1. tastelessly showy;

"a flash car"

"a flashy ring"

"garish colors"

"a gaudy costume"

"loud sport shirts"

"a meretricious yet stylish book"

"tawdry ornaments"

2. cheap and shoddy;

"cheapjack moviemaking...that feeds on the low taste of the mob"- Judith Crist

tawdry

tawdry: [17] Anna, Anglo-Saxon king of East Anglia, had a daughter called Etheldrida, who became queen of Northumbria (she died in 679). She had an inordinate fondness in her youth for fine lace neckerchiefs, and when she was later afflicted by a fatal tumour of the neck, she regarded it as divine retribution for her former extravagance. After her death she was canonized and made patron saint of Ely.

In the Middle Ages fairs were held in her memory, known as ‘St Audrey’s fairs’ (Audry is a conflated version of Etheldrida), at which lace neckties were sold. These were termed Seynt Audries lace, a name eventually eroded to tawdrie lace. They were often made from cheap gaudy material, and so by the end of the 17th century tawdry was being used generally for ‘cheap and gaudy’.

tawdry (adj.)

"no longer fresh or elegant but worn as if it were so; in cheap and ostentatious imitation of what is rich or costly," 1670s, adjective use of noun tawdry "silk necktie for women" (1610s), shortened from tawdry lace (1540s), an alteration (with adhesion of the -t- from Saint) of St. Audrey's lace, a necktie or ribbon sold at the annual fair at Ely on Oct. 17 commemorating St. Audrey (queen of Northumbria, died 679). Her association with lace necklaces is that she supposedly died of a throat tumor, which, according to Bede, she considered God's punishment for her youthful stylishness. Related: Tawdriness.

"I know of a surety that I deservedly bear the weight of my trouble on my neck, for I remember that, when I was a young maiden, I bore on it the needless weight of necklaces; and therefore I believe the Divine goodness would have me endure the pain in my neck, that so I may be absolved from the guilt of my needless levity, having now, instead of gold and pearls, the fiery heat of a tumour rising on my neck." [A.M. Sellar translation, 1907]

Do you attend operas , or do you read tawdry novels ?

你会参观歌剧表演，还是阅读通俗小说？

辞典例句

The main street has assumed its tawdry prosperity with discomfort.

繁华的大街透着一股不安的气氛.

辞典例句

She slopped about her room, unkempt and dishevelled, in her tawdry dressing - gown.

她不修边幅,满头蓬发,穿着俗里俗气的睡衣邋邋遢遢在屋里走来走去.

辞典例句

Everything seemed strange, so tawdry and grotesque.

一切似乎都很新奇, 很花哨,而且滑稽可笑.

辞典例句

But then, the world oldest profession has always been a bit tawdry.

但是,话说回来, 世界最古老的职业向来就是低俗的.

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Sheldon : You want me to use my intelligence in tawdry competition?

想让我把才智耗费在这种脆而不坚的竞争上 吗 ?

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