Link Centre Dictionary

drab

US/dɹæb/ uncommon dated obsolete slang

adjective

1.

lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise

  • “her drab personality”
  • “life was drab compared with the more exciting life style overseas”
  • “a series of dreary dinner parties”
Synonyms
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2.

lacking brightness or color; dull

  • “drab faded curtains”
  • “sober Puritan gray”
  • “children in somber brown clothes”
Synonyms
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3.

depressing in character or appearance

  • “drove through dingy streets”
  • “the dismal prison twilight” Charles Dickens
  • “drab old buildings”
  • “a dreary mining town”
  • “gloomy tenements”
  • “sorry routine that follows on the heels of death” B.A.Williams
Synonyms
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Origin

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”)).

Phrases

  • olive drab
  • Russia drab

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.