It's Merriam-Webster's word of the day for March 18th.

Today's word is T-A-W-D-R-Y. Taudry is an adjective.

Something described as Taudry is cheap and gaudy in appearance or quality.

Taudry is also often used to describe something considered morally bad or distasteful,

as in a Taudry tale of political scalduggery.

Here's the word used in a sentence from the Chicago Sun Times by

Craig Barner. Chicago boasts a deep bench of architectural talent to make a

pedestrianized state street a success, whether with a modernist

traditional or some newfangled flavor. In contrast, the old pedestrian mall

was tacky a tardry suburban mall.

In the seventh century Ethellda, the Queen of Northumbria,

renounced her husband and her royal position in order to become a nun.

She was renowned for her saintliness and is said to have died of a swelling in her throat

which she took as a judgment upon her fondness for wearing necklaces in her youth.

Her shrine became a principal site of pilgrimage in England.

An annual fair was held in her honor on October 17th, and her name became simplified to St. Audrey.

At these fairs, various kinds of cheap knickknacks were sold, along with a type of necklace called St. Audrey's lace, which by the 16th century

had become altered to Taudry lace. Eventually the word Taudry came to be used to describe anything cheap and gaudy

that might be found at these fairs or anywhere else.

With your word of the day I'm Peter Sokolosky.

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