drab

Etymology 1

Probably from Middle French and Old French drap (“cloth”), either: * from Late Latin drappus (“drabcloth, kerchief; piece of cloth”), most likely from Gaulish *drappo, from Proto-Indo-European *drep- (“to scratch, tear”); or * from Frankish *drapi, *drāpi (“that which is fulled, drabcloth”), from Proto-Germanic *drap-, *drēp- (“something beaten”), from *drepaną (“to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrebʰ- (“to beat, crush; to make or become thick”). The English word is cognate with Ancient Greek δρέπω (drépō, “to pluck”), Avestan 𐬛𐬭𐬀𐬟𐬱𐬀 (drafša, “banner, flag”), Lithuanian drãpanos (“household linens”), Old Norse trefja (“to rub, wear out”), trof (“fringes”), Sanskrit द्रापि (drāpi, “mantle, gown”), Serbo-Croatian drápati (“to scratch, scrape”)).

noun

1. A fabric, usually of thick cotton or wool, having a dull brownish yellow, dull grey, or dun colour.
   John Hanſell, of Bridport, in Dorſetſhire, ſail-cloth manufacturer, ſtates in his evidence, that the ſale of coarſe woollen cloath was not then a twentieth part of what it had been for the common people formerly, owing to their ſubſtituting Ruſſia drabs and ravenſduck as garments in place of the coarſe woollens. 1786, “Letter X”, in Examinator’s Letters, or, A Mirror for British Monopolists and Irish Financiers, Dublin: Printed, and sold by the booksellers, →OCLC, pages 41–42
2. The colour of this fabric.
   drab:
   Most of the colours called drabs appear to me the same by day-light and candle-light. 31 October 1794, John Dalton, “Extraordinary Facts Relating to the Vision of Colours: With Observations”, in Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, volume V, part 1, Manchester: Printed by George Nicholson for Cadell and Davies, published 1798, →OCLC, page 36
   [T]he carpet is a Brussels, of rather a small pattern, in various shades of greens and drabs. 17 February 1838, Mrs. Howitt, “The Friends’ Family”, in William, Robert Chambers, editors, Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, volume VII, number 316, Edinburgh: Published,[…], by W[illiam] S[omerville] Orr and Co.,[…], published 1839, →OCLC, page 25, column 2
   Let your light drabs be next. Do not put anything in your liquor after your greys, except a pint of this ebony liquor; stir it up well, and handle in your silks for light drab for twenty minutes, and they are done; … The next drab you dye in the vat is a dark stone drab. 1854, Thomas Love, “To Dye Silk Drabs in the Lavender Vat Different Ways”, in The Art of Cleaning, Dyeing, Scouring, and Finishing, on the Most Approved English and French Methods.[…], London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans,[…], →OCLC, part I (The Art of Cleaning and Dyeing Silk), page 78
3. Often in the plural form drabs: apparel, especially trousers, made from this fabric.
   [T]o please her he promised to lay aside the universal drabs for the wedding day and to case his extremities in modern black cloth continuations, with an express stipulation that the drabs should again be in active service on the subsequent morning. 1860 September, J. Crawford Wilson, “Brutus”, in Frank Leslie’s Monthly, volume VII, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Frank Leslie] Publication Office, 19, City Hall Square, →OCLC, page 237, column 1
   I knew that Julia Morgan was a Beaux Arts graduate, and through my mind there trooped a bizarre procession of girls who have studied one thing or another in Paris. They usually come home dressed in a color scheme of the impressionistic school, with their talent merely a by-product of a wonderful new set of mannerisms and a novel and fuzzy way of doing their hair. Yet here was a young woman dressed in drab and severely hair pinned. 1907 October, Jane Armstrong, “Woman Architect who Helped Build the Fairmont Hotel”, in The Architect and Engineer of California, volume X, number 3, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Calif.: Architect & Engineer Co., →OCLC, page 70
4. (by extension) A dull or uninteresting appearance or situation, unremarkable.
   Watership Down review – CGI rabbits can't save this Christmas turkey. The 1970s cartoon traumatised generations of children, but the new version is tame, drab and deeply unsatisfying. What, really, was the point? December 23, 2018, Lucy Mangan, “WatershipDown review - CGI rabbits can't save this Christmas turkey”, in The Guardian
   A drab office block sandwiched between a pub and a branch of Starbucks was a secret base of spy agency GCHQ, it has been confirmed. The anonymous building opposite St James's Park Tube station in central London was used by British spooks for 66 years. April 5, 2019, Joseph Lee, “Drab London office block was GCHQ spy base”, in BBC

adj

1. Of the colour of some types of drabcloth: dull brownish yellow or dun.
2. (by extension) Particularly of colour: dull, uninteresting.
   Year by year they will find her with even thinner hair, sharper shoulders, drabber cheeks; and he, looking upon her with the forgiveness of complete indifference, will say to himself, "She is bad, and she is ugly; I was well rid of her!" 1869 December, [Rhoda Broughton], “Red as a Rose is She”, in Temple Bar: A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers, volume XXVIII, London: Richard Bentley,[…]; New York, N.Y.: Willmer and Rogers, published March 1870, →OCLC, chapter XXXI, page 11
   Have you no longing ever to be free? / In warm, electric days to run a-muck, / Ranging like some mad dinosaur, / Your fiery heart at war / With this strange world, the city's restless ruck, / Where all drab things that toil, save you alone, / Have life; … 1914, Eunice Tietjens, “The Steam Shovel”, in Harriet Monroe, Alice Corbin Henderson, editors, The New Poetry: An Anthology, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published February 1917 (March–April 1917 printing), lines 29–35, page 342
   The more he basked in golden dreams the drabber seemed his humdrum life behind the bank counter. 1923 April, Harold Steevens, “The Duplicate Cheque”, in Herbert Greenhough Smith], editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume LXV, London: George Newnes, Ltd.,[…], →OCLC, page 345, column 1
   Furniture is comical. It responds to humans. For some it looks its drabbest, for others it sparkles and looks, if not handsome, at any rate comfortable. 1944, Emily Carr, “Sounds and Silences”, in The House of All Sorts, Toronto, Ont., London: Oxford University Press, →OCLC, page 10
   And what if your daughter admires him even more / And comes to choose him for her life's companion, / Not the drab complainer she ended up with. 1997, Carl Dennis, “Sarit Narai”, in Robert Pack, Jay Parini, editors, Introspections: American Poets on One of Their Own Poems, Hanover, N.H., London: Middlebury College Press; published by University Press of New England, pages 59–60
   In a drab first half, Ryan Shotton's drive was deflected on to a post and Jon Walters twice went close. 3 November 2011, David Ornstein, “Macc Tel-Aviv 1 – 2 Stoke”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2019-03-26

Etymology 2

The origin of the noun is uncertain; compare Middle English drabelen, drablen, draplen (“to soil; make dirty; to drag on the ground or through mud”), and Low German drabbe (“dirt, mud”), drabbeln (“to soil”), and Old Norse drabba (“to make drab; make dirty”), the latter three ultimately from Proto-Germanic *drepaną (“to hit, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreb- (“to crush, grind; to kill”). The word is also likely to be related to Dutch drab (“dregs, sediment”), Irish drabog, Scottish Gaelic drabag (“dirty woman; slattern”). The verb is derived from the noun.

noun

1. (dated) A dirty or untidy woman; a slattern.
   As ſtiff as a drabs diſtaff. 1660, James Hovvell [i.e., James Howell], “Diharebion Cymraeg, VVedu ei Cysiethu yn Saisoneg = British, or Old Cambrian Proverbs, and Cymraecan Adages, Never Englished, (and Divers Never Published) before.[…]”, in Lexicon Tetraglotton, an English–French–Italian–Spanish Dictionary:[…], Printed by J[ohn] G[rismond] for Samuel Thomson[…], →OCLC, page 20
   The doss house emptied during the day; from ten o'clock until five or six in the evening, there was no one there except Mulliver, a drab who did some of the cleaning for him, and occasional visitors. 1956, J. J. Marric [pseudonym; John Creasey], “Father and Son”, in Gideon’s Week, London: Hodder & Stoughton, →OCLC, page 154; republished in Gideon at Work: Three Complete Novels: Gideon’s Day, Gideon’s Week, Gideon’s Night, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, 1957, →OCLC, page 250
2. (dated) A promiscuous woman, a slut; a prostitute.
   Experience ſhewes, his Purſe ſhall ſoone grow light, / Whom Dice waſtes in the day, Drabs in the night: / Let all auoyde falſe Strumpets, Dice, and Drinke; / For hee that leaps in Mudde, ſhall quickly ſinke. 1611 December 27 (first performance), Io[hn] Cooke, Greenes Tu Quoque, or, The Cittie Gallant.[…], printed at London: [By Nicholas Okes] for Iohn Trundle, published 1614, →OCLC
   Where the Red Lion ſtaring o'er the way, / Invites each paſſing ſtranger that can pay; / Where Calvert’s butt, and Parſon’s black champaign, / Regale the drabs and bloods of Drury-lane; … a. 1775, Oliver Goldsmith, “A Description of an Author’s Bed-chamber”, in Poems and Plays.[…], new corrected edition, London: Printed for Messrs. Price [et al.], published 1785, →OCLC, page 10
   Ineffable sarcasm underlined the word 'bride', suggesting that Mrs Mudge must be a drab who had married for respectability. 1957, Frank Swinnerton, The Woman from Sicily, London: Hutchinson, →OCLC, page 194

verb

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To consort with prostitutes; to whore.
   Very fine! This Sempronius is a bleſſed Perſon indeed! he Games, he Cheats, he Swears, he Drinks, he Drabs; … 1720, [John] Dennis, The Invader of His Country: Or, The Fatal Resentment. A Tragedy.[…], London: Printed for J. Pemberton[…], and J. Watts[…]; and sold by J. Brotherton and W. Meadows[…]; T. Jauncy and A. Dodd[…]; W. Lewis[…], and J. Graves[…], →OCLC, act II, scene iii, page 24
   He did not relish the apparition of that Katherine, for when it appeared it seemed to bring with it a brother shadow that wore ragged clothes and tangled hair and foul linen; that drank from any flagon and drabbed with any doxy; that slept in tavern angles through hours of drunkenness; a thing whose fingers pillaged, filched and pilfered when and where they could; a creature that once he saw whenever he stared into a mirror. 1907, Justin Huntly McCarthy, “A Lull in the Storm”, in Needles and Pins, London: Hurst and Blackett Limited[…], →OCLC, pages 78–79

Etymology 3

Probably related to drop (“small mass of liquid”).

noun

1. A small amount, especially of money.
   Thanks to my stars, I once can see / A window here from scribbling free! / Here no conceited coxcombs pass, / To scratch their paltry drabs on glass; / Nor party-fool is calling names, / Or dealing crowns to George and James. a. 1746, Jonathan Swift, “VII. Another, Written upon a Window where there was No Writing before.”, in Thomas Sheridan, compiler, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of St. Patrick’s, Dublin. […] In Nineteen Volumes, new corrected and revised edition, volume VII, London: Printed [by Nichols and Son] for J[oseph] Johnson [et al.], published 1801, →OCLC, page 361
   The tea drinking has done a great deal in bringing this nation into the state [of] misery in which it now is; and the tea drinking, which is carried on by "dribs" and "drabs;" by pence and farthings going out at a time; this miserable practice has been gradually introduced by the growing weight of the taxes on Malt and on Hops, and by the everlasting penury amongst the labourers, occasioned by the paper-money. 1823, William Cobbett, “Brewing Beer”, in Cottage Economy:[…], new edition, London: Printed for J. M. Cobbett,[…], →OCLC, paragraph 30
   He could play good guy and give them a few drabs of info to sweeten things. 2009 April, Michael Z. Williamson, chapter 4, in Contact with Chaos, Riverdale, N.Y.: Baen Publishing Enterprises
   He reached for another candy bar and hungrily devoured it, as fetid drabs of water fell on him from the ceiling. 2015, Robert Levy, The Glittering World, New York, N.Y.: Gallery Books
   I was itching to shoot up the developing fields of barley growing before my eyes. If my aim had any effect, Germany would be short a few drabs of ale. 2018, Lewis A. Haeflinger, “In My Dreams”, in Life in the World Wind, New York, N.Y.: Page Publishing
   His tone, which contained more than a few drabs of sarcasm, was a notch or two shy of disrespectful, and his words, though sharp, were themselves circumspect. 2018, Patrick Moran, Wine Country Cannibals, Glen Ellen, Calif.: Sweet Pea & Company, page 85

Etymology 4

Unknown.

noun

1. A box used in a saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans.
   Thoſe therefore, who are moſt exact in pickling beef for exportation, … take their carcaſſes as ſoon as cold, and cut them into proper pieces; and after rubbing each piece carefully with good white ſalt, lay them on heaps in a cool cellar, in a drab with a ſhelving bottom, where they remain for four or five days, 'till the blood hath drained out of the larger veſſels. 1748, William Brownrigg, “Of the Use of Salt as a Condiment or Pickle”, in The Art of Making Common Salt, as Now Practised in Most Parts of the World; with Several Improvements Proposed in that Art, for the Use of the British Dominions, London: Printed, and sold by C. Davis,[…]; A[ndrew] Millar,[…]; and R[obert] Dodsley,[…], →OCLC, part II (The Art of Preparing White Salt: Appendix), pages 166–168
   When the ſalt is carried into the ſtore-houſe, it is put into drabs, which are partitions, like ſtalls for horſes, lined at three ſides, and the bottom with boards, and having a ſliding-board on the foreſide to draw up on occaſion. The bottoms are made ſhelving, being higheſt at the back, and gradually inclining forwards; by this means the brine, remaining among the ſalt, eaſily ſeparates and runs from it, and the ſalt in three or four days becomes ſufficiently dry; … 1765, Temple Henry Croker, Thomas Williams, Samuel Clark, “SALT”, in The Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. In which the Whole Circle of Human Learning is Explained.[…], volume II, London: Printed for the authors, and sold by J. Wilson & J. Fell,[…], →OCLC
   In both caſes they let the ſalt remain in the pan till the whole is finiſhed; then they rake it out with wooden rakes, and after it has drained a-while in wooden drabs, it is fit for uſe. The mother-brine, of which there always remains a large quantity in the pan after the ſtrong ſalt is made, as alſo the drainings of the drabs where the ſalt is put, is reſerved to be boiled up into table-ſalt; … 1819, Abraham Rees, “SALT”, in The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature. … In Thirty-nine Volumes, volume XXXI, London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown [et al.], →OCLC
   The Liverpool salt is made from the impure article that is found in the mines of Cheshire, which is transported in vast quantities down the River Mersey, and is dissolved in seawater on the left bank at extensive manufactories opposite to Liverpool. This impure pickle is drawn from the tanks, in which it is dissolved, into large shallow pans, and by a rapid process of boiling it is crystalized—drawn from the pans—the salt placed in drabs or baskets to drain, ready for another charge within 24 hours, except on Sundays; the charge in the pans is allowed 48 hours to crystalize and be drawn. 1857 August, W[illia]m C. Dennis, “Salt—Its Uses and Manufacture—Salt Meats. An Inquiry into the Defects of Common Salt in General Use in the United States for Curing Provisions, and on the Subject of Careless Packing and Management of Meats, etc, with Some Hints as to a Remedy”, in J[ames] D[unwoody] B[rownson] De Bow, editor, De Bow’s Review and Industrial Resources, Statistics, etc.:[…], volume III (New Series; volume XXIII overall), New Orleans, La., Washington, D.C.: [J. D. B. De Bow], →OCLC, page 135

Etymology 5

Alteration of drag, possibly via the folk-etymological backronym "DRessed As a Girl" (with boy replacing girl).

noun

1. (LGBT, slang) An instance of a transgender or non-binary person presenting as the gender corresponding to their sex assigned at birth instead of that corresponding to their internal gender identity (for instance, a trans woman dressed as a man).
   Just for those who may not be aware of the term, “drab” is how you might describe a transgendered person (including transsexuals, crossdressers, drag queens, etc.) that is presenting as their birth sex. For instance, if Rain is dressed as a boy, she is dressed in “drab”. My original idea had Ruby on this page too, but that took away from the “drab” theme. 1 November 2012, Jocelyn Samara D., “Comic 278 - Ch. 12 - Drab”, in Rain, archived from the original on 2020-01-21