Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having the qualities of a drab; sluttish.
  • Somewhat of the color of drab.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Somewhat drab in color.
  • adjective Having the character of a drab or low wench.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective archaic Having the character of a drab or low wench.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

drab +‎ -ish

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Examples

  • This was a thin-faced, spare-figured man of middle age and stature, dressed in a dusty drabbish-coloured suit, such as I never saw before.

    American Notes for General Circulation 2007

  • For one, instead of the drabbish woman she had expected, Mrs. Hall saw a pale, dark-eyed, ladylike creature, whose personality ruled her attire rather than was ruled by it.

    Wessex Tales 2006

  • The sudden return of movement and familiar noises, and our natural anxiety about ourselves (our clothes were still dreadfully hot, and the fronts of the thighs of Gibberne's white trousers were scorched a drabbish brown), prevented the minute observations I should have liked to make on all these things.

    The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories 1906

  • Short, although not quite so short as Carrissima, she had a thickset but flat figure, and a conscientious objection to make her drabbish-coloured hair appear more plentiful than it was.

    Enter Bridget Thomas Cobb 1893

  • Her gown, which was invariably of some greyish, drabbish, neutral-tinted material, always cocked up a little in front to show two large, flat, soft-looking feet.

    Prisoners Fast Bound In Misery And Iron Mary Cholmondeley 1892

  • For one, instead of the drabbish woman she had expected, Mrs. Hall saw a pale, dark-eyed, ladylike creature, whose personality ruled her attire rather than was ruled by it.

    Wessex Tales Thomas Hardy 1884

  • The thick drabbish yellow moustache was what arrested decision in either direction, and the prompt vigour of all his movements was that of a young man of thirty, which was really Walker's age.

    The Rise of Silas Lapham William Dean Howells 1878

  • Straight, drabbish hair, pale eyes, and a wide, thin-lipped mouth were not personal charms, though they belonged to an exemplary man; neither were vanity and a timid regard for appearances, traits particularly calculated to master Margaret's soul.

    To Warn, To Comfort, and Command. Part Third. 1869

  • Straight, drabbish hair, pale eyes, and a wide, thin-lipped mouth were not personal charms, though they belonged to an exemplary man; neither were vanity and a timid regard for appearances, traits particularly calculated to master Margaret's soul.

    THE WOMAN'S ADVOCATE 1869

  • Straight, drabbish hair, pale eyes, and a wide, thin-lipped mouth were not personal charms, though they belonged to an exemplary man; neither were vanity and a timid regard for appearances, traits particularly calculated to master Margaret's soul.

    The Woman's Advocate. 1869

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