Taw'dry1, a.
a. [compar. TAWDRIER; superl. TAWDRIEST.] [Said to be corrupted from Saint Audrey or Auldrey, meaning Saint Ethelreda, implying therefore, originally, bought at the fair of St. Audrey, where laces and gay toys of all sorts were sold. This fair was held in the isle of Ely, and probably at other places, on the day of the saint, which was the 17th of October.]
Sense 1. Bought at the festival of St. Audrey, or Ethelreda. [Obs.]
Gird in your waist With a tawdry lace. Spenser.
Sense 2. Very fine and showy in colors, without taste or elegance; having an excess of showy ornaments without grace; as, a tawdry dress; tawdry feathers; tawdry colors.
He rails from morning to night at essenced fops and tawdry courtiers. Spectator.