gaudy
pronunciation
How to pronounce gaudy in British English:
UK [ˈgɔ:di]
How to pronounce gaudy in American English:
US [ˈɡɔdi]
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- Noun:
- a celebratory feast held annually at one of the colleges in a British university
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- Adjective:
- tastelessly showy
- (used especially of clothes) marked by conspicuous display
Word Origin
- gaudy
- gaudy: [16] Middle English had a colour term gaudy-green ‘yellowish-green’, which originally denoted ‘green produced by dye obtained from the plant dyer’s rocket, Reseda luteola’, a plant formerly known as weld [14]. The word weld came from a Germanic source which, borrowed into Old French, produced gaude – whence English gaudy-green. It has been claimed that this gaudy soon lost its literal meaning ‘produced from weld-dye’, and came to be interpreted as ‘bright’.Other etymologists, however, favour the explanation that gaudy comes from gaud ‘joke, plaything’ [14], which was adapted from Old French gaudir ‘rejoice’, a descendant of Latin gaudēre ‘delight in’ (from which English gets joy).
- gaudy (adj.)
- "showy, tastelessly rich," c. 1600; earlier "joyfully festive" (1580s), probably a re-adjectivizing of gaudy (n.) "large, ornamental bead in a rosary" (early 14c.) via the noun gaud + -y (2.). In early Modern English it also could mean "full of trickery" (1520s). Or possibly the adjective is from or influenced by Middle English noun gaudegrene (early 14c.), name of a yellowish-green color or pigment, originally of dye obtained from the weld plant (see weld (n.1)). This Germanic plant-name became gaude in Old French, and thus the Middle English word. Under this theory, the sense shifted from "weld-dye" to "bright ornamentation." As a noun, "feast, festival" 1650s, from gaudy day "day of rejoicing" (1560s).
Example
- 1. How it 's strange : buildings are not usually this gaudy .
- 2. Others showed the spectacular new beijing opera house , a bullet train and a series of gaudy provincial government buildings .
- 3. A glass kiosk stands at the side of the highway , covered in gaudy neon lights . Inside , a young woman with her body more exposed than covered sits at a glass table , making something .
- 4. International opinion is right . The poll is as false as the faades in naypyidaw , the junta 's gaudy new inland capital .
- 5. Chinese consumers are clearly willing to embrace a strikingly gaudy facet of western culture as well .