_shabby_
Adjective.
Pronunciation
and accent: ʃæbɪ.
It is dated from
the end of 1600.
Etymology: it is analysed into shab (obsolete
word significative of scab, a cutaneous disease in sheep) + -y (suffix equivalent
to having the quality of). Walter Skeat stated: [shabby is] a doublet of scabby.
Comparative form: shabbier.
Superlative form: shabbiest.
1. a. (Of something artificial; more
usually of clothes, house, etc.) ugly, or visually unpleasant, because of
the accidental change of its surface (as loss of newness, fadeness, dinginess,
etc.) resulting from its use, exposure, etc.; affected by shabbiness. b.
(Of the manner of clothing) ugly, or visually unpleasant, because of
the accidental change of its surface (as loss of newness, fadeness, dinginess,
etc.) resulting from its use, exposure, etc.
Antonyms: new,
fresh, splendid, beautiful, showy, resplendent.
Synonyms: dingy, faded, threadbare, out-worn, slovenly.
Translation: deslucido, or destartalado, in Spanish; usé, in French; logoro, in Italian.
She was beautifully dressed, […] -while I, with my shabby black silk, torn and darned
in fifty places […]
Hannah Jones… The Gipsy mother
I am sorry to say we jeered him both about his shabby clothes and his hungry looks.
William Ainsworth… Mervyn Clitheroe
He seemed absolutely unconscious that he and his rattly buggy and the
harness on the horse were all very shabby, and that the
horse was fat and pudgy and scrawny of mane; and for that she admired him.
B. M Bower… Starr, of the Desert
[...] she meditates upon her father’s hat; and the more she looks at it,
the shabbier she thinks it.
Anne Marsh-Caldwell… Castle Avon
It was very cold; therefore [... Julia] was forced to wear her faded
purple pelisse, and now it looked shabbier than usual; and still
shabbier from the contrast
of a very smart new black velvet bonnet.
Amelia Opie… Simple tales
Oh! don't look at my boots, they are so shabby now.
Walter… My secrete life
A narrow shabby street.
Catherine Crowe… Susan Hopley
[…] having arrived at what appeared to me a shabby part of the town, my friend stopped at a house that looked rather
better than the others, and rang the bell.
Catherine Crowe… Susan Hopley
Carriages and other conveyances were arriving every minute from London
and elsewhere; and when among the rest a shabby stage-coach came in by a by-route along the coast from Havenpool, and drew
up at a second-rate tavern, it attracted comparatively little notice.
Thomas Hardy… A changed man and other tales
The bed had been a good one, the old gentleman and lady had slept on it
for years; it was large and handsome, but being shabby and worn out [...].
Walter… My secrete life
The
fact that a volume could be so repaired, stimulated the purchase of shabby books; and part of what was saved
on the price of a good copy was laid out on the amendment of the poor one.
George MacDonald… There & Back
He was attired in a dark blue frock coat, which was neither shabby nor new, but ill made, and much too large and long for its present
possessor.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton… Pelham
When the top of your car is neglected it becomes shabby […]
Popular Science, Abr. 1920
He
was attired in a plain, and even somewhat shabby manner: there was not a
particle of jewellery about him
George Reynolds… The mysteries of London
-) It is found
in combination with looking:
Under a huge archway of a shabby
looking big house they turned, I found them waiting, they spoke and made signs,
but I didn't understand.
Walter… My secret life
She found Lady Jane Granville in a small lodging […], -the room dark –a
smell of smoke –the tea-equipage prepared –Lady Jane lying on a shabby-looking sofa.
Maria Edgeworth… Tales and novels
2. (Of a person) dressed with shabby clothes; shabbily dressed.
Translation: andrajoso, or zarrapastroso, in Spanish; malvestito, in Italian; vêtu d’un
vêtement usé, in French.
Antonyms: overdressed, elegant, foppish, well-dressed.
Synonyms: dowdy,
ill-dressed, dapper.
One
good thing was, I had plenty of clothes, and so could go a long time without
becoming too shabby for business. I repaired them myself. I brushed my
own boots. Occasionally I washed my own collars.
George MacDonald… Adela Cathcart
The greatest peril to a shabby man is the self-imposed
obligation to show he is better than he looks.
Charles Lever… One of Them
I am a solitary man, and seldom walk with anybody. Not that I am avoided
because I am shabby; for I am not at
all shabby, having always a
very good suit of black on [...]; but I have got into a habit of speaking low,
and being rather silent…
Charles Dickens… The poor relation’s story
The
streets are thronged with a vast concourse of people, gay and shabby, rich and poor, idle and industrious.
Charles Dickens… Sketches by Boz
-) It is found in combination with looking:
A shabby looking grad student in
chinos and a fleece vest opens the door and ushers her in.
Jack Dunn… Hard
3. Hence: a.
(Of anything artificial perceived
otherwise than by the sight, or that is incorporeal) unsplendid or not
splendid, as if it were a faded piece of cloth; as, a shabby letter. b. (Of a person, a personal action, etc.)
dishonourable, contemptible. c. (Of a person) ungenerous,
niggard. d. (Of a
gift) niggardly or ungenerously given.
A shabby excuse.
William Thackeray… The Bedford-Row Conspiracy
You have been mean and shabby.
Charles Dickens… Bleak House
[…] it would be horridly shabby of you to desert
us now.
Frank Smedley… Frank Fairlegh
Tell
your father I think he's shabby because he left me out.
Harold Bindloss… The Buccaneer Farmer
English
words derived from SHABBY: shabby (verb), shabbyish, shabbiness, shabbily, shabbify.
