dowdy.
Plain and unfashionable in style or dress.
Meaning & usage
Plain and unfashionable in style or dress.
Lacking stylishness or neatness; shabby.
Where this word comes from
First appears c. 1581. Origin uncertain, probably literally "little poorly dressed woman," formed from doue, "poorly dressed woman". Possibly also related to the Scots dow, meaning to "fade".
A plain or shabby person.
Where this word comes from
First appears c. 1581. Origin uncertain, probably literally "little poorly dressed woman," formed from doue, "poorly dressed woman". Possibly also related to the Scots dow, meaning to "fade".
To press the crust into the filling during baking, to allow the juices to caramelize on top.
Where this word comes from
First appears c. 1581. Origin uncertain, probably literally "little poorly dressed woman," formed from doue, "poorly dressed woman". Possibly also related to the Scots dow, meaning to "fade".
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.