dowdy

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

dowdy
    adj 1: lacking in smartness or taste; "a dowdy grey outfit"; "a
           clean and sunny but completely dowdy room"
    2: primly out of date; "nothing so frumpish as last year's
       gambling game" [syn: {dowdy}, {frumpy}, {frumpish}]
    n 1: British marshal of the RAF who commanded the British air
         defense forces that defeated the Luftwaffe during the
         Battle of Britain (1882-1970) [syn: {Dowding}, {Hugh
         Dowding}, {Baron Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding},
         {Dowdy}]
    2: deep-dish apple dessert covered with a rich crust [syn:
       {dowdy}, {pandowdy}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Dowdy \Dow"dy\, n.; pl. {Dowdies}.
   An awkward, vulgarly dressed, inelegant woman. --Shak.
   Dryden.
   [1913 Webster]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Dowdy \Dow"dy\, a. [Compar. {Dowdier}; superl. {Dowdiest}.]
   [Scot. dawdie slovenly, daw, da sluggard, drab, Prov. E. dowd
   flat, dead.]
   Showing a vulgar taste in dress; awkward and slovenly in
   dress; vulgar-looking. -- {Dow"di*ly}, adv. -- {Dow"di*ness},
   n.
   [1913 Webster]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

52 Moby Thesaurus words for "dowdy":
      archaic, blowsy, bygone, dated, demode, down-at-heel,
      down-at-the-heels, drab, draggletailed, dull, frayed, frazzled,
      frowsy, frowzy, frumpish, frumpy, full of holes, holey, in rags,
      in shreds, in tatters, messy, old hat, old-fashioned, out-of-date,
      outdated, outmoded, passe, patchy, ragged, raggedy, ratty, scruffy,
      seedy, shabby, shoddy, slattern, sloppy, slovenly, slut, sordid,
      stodgy, tacky, tattered, tatty, torn, traipse, unbecoming,
      unfashionable, unkempt, unseemly, vintage

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