drab1
[drab]
- dull; cheerless; lacking in spirit, brightness, etc.
- having the color drab.
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- dull gray; dull brownish or yellowish gray.
- any of several fabrics of this color, especially of thick wool or cotton.
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Origin of drab1
1535–45; < Middle French drap < Late Latin drappus piece of cloth
drab2
[drab]
- a dirty, untidy woman; slattern.
- a prostitute.
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- to associate with drabs.
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Origin of drab2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
graydesolaterun-downshabbylacklustermuddysomberdrearydingydismalbleakdrybrownflatboringsameblahzeroaridcheerlessExamples from the Web for drab
Contemporary Examples
The winter can be so drab—all greys, blacks, and neutral tones.
The Daily Beast’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: For the Carrie Bradshaw in Your LifeAllison McNearney
November 29, 2014
But why do the outdoor scenes look as dank and drab as the gas-lit, sepia-toned interiors?
It is long past time for the drab Republican stalwarts to turn to a low-key but heavy-lifting leader.
The country grew tired of the relentless pictures of death in drab on the evening news and an economy out of control.
Gottlieb waxes this drab compromise to high luster, calling it “taking the best available option and appreciating it.”
Historical Examples
He began to see things truly by the drab light of retrospection.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
But he had her half painted yaller, an' his a kind of a drab, I guess you'd call it.
Meadow GrassAlice Brown
The world—my world before this night—now seemed to have been so drab.
"Lee—over there—" Aura's whispered words were drab with horror.
The World BeyondRaymond King Cummings
A drab sack-coat of alpaca hung, unbuttoned, down to his knees.
Lord JimJoseph Conrad
drab1
- dull; dingy; shabby
- cheerless; drearya drab evening
- of the colour drab
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- a light olive-brown colour
- a fabric of a dull grey or brown colour
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Word Origin
C16: from Old French drap cloth, from Late Latin drappus, perhaps of Celtic origin
drab2
- a slatternly woman
- a whore
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- (intr) to consort with prostitutes
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Word Origin
C16: of Celtic origin; compare Scottish Gaelic drabag
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for drab
n.
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- "to make muddy." Meaning "small, petty debt" (the sense in dribs and drabs) is 1828, of uncertain connection to the other senses.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with drab
drab
see dribs and drabs.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.