| Front | frowsy \FROW-zee\ |
|---|---|
| Back | adjective 1. Musty, stale. 2. Having a slovenly or uncared-for appearance. [The exact origins of this approximately 330-year-old word may be lost in some frowsy, old book somewhere, but some etymologists have speculated that "frowsy" (also spelled "frowzy") shares a common ancestor with the younger, chiefly British word "frowsty," a synonym of "frowsy" in both its senses. That ancestor could be the Old French word "frouste," meaning "ruinous" or "decayed," or the now mostly obsolete English word "frough" or "frow," meaning "brittle" or "fragile." The English dramatist Thomas Otway is the first person (as far as we know) to have used "frowsy" in print. In his comedy "The Souldier's Fortune," published in 1681, the character Beau refers to another character as "a frouzy Fellmonger."] |
Learn with these flashcards. Click next, previous, or up to navigate to more flashcards for this subject.
Next card: Fair vanity noun place characterized frivolity ostentation lasted
Previous card: Head cap-a-pie armed english meaning order kap-uh-pee adverb
Up to card list: Hard English Vocabulary