drably

drab ¹  (drb)

adj. drab·ber, drab·best

1.

a. Of a dull grayish to yellowish brown.

b. Of a light olive brown or khaki color.

2. Faded and dull in appearance.

3. Dull or commonplace in character; dreary: a drab personality. See Synonyms at dull.

n.

1. A dull grayish to yellowish or light olive brown.

2. Cloth of this color or of an unbleached natural color.

---

[Alteration of obsolete French drap, cloth, from Old French; see drape.]

---

drably adv.

drabness n.

---

drab ²  (drb)

n.

1. A slattern.

2. A woman prostitute.

intr.v. drabbed, drab·bing, drabs

To consort with prostitutes: "Even amid his drabbing, he himself retained some virginal airs" (Stanislaus Joyce).

---

[Possibly of Celtic origin; akin to Scottish Gaelic dràbag and Irish Gaelic drabóg, slattern, or from Dutch drab, dregs.]

---

drab ³  (drb)

n.

A negligible amount: finished the work in dribs and drabs.

---

[Probably alteration of drib.]

Thesaurus

Adv.

1.

drably - in a drab manner; "she dresses drably"

Translations

drably

adv dressed → trist; painted → in tristen Farben; drably uniform → deprimierend eintönig