▪ I. gaudy, n.
(ˈgɔːdɪ)
Also (6 gaid-, galdye), 6–7 gaudye, 6–8 gawdy.
[ad. L. gaudium joy. In some senses the word may represent L. gaudē ‘rejoice thou’, as used in hymns or liturgies; and there may also be mixture of OF. gaudie n. of action f. gaudir to rejoice, make merry.]
† 1. = gaud n.1 Obs.
| 1434 E.E. Wills (1882) 102 A payre bedes of blak gaudys of siluer & gilt. 1483 in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 116 Item a pair of coral beedis the gawdies gilt wrythen. 1500 in Hearne Collect. 19 June 1706 (O.H.S.) I. 263 My Blake beds of jett with gaidyes of Gold. 1542 Inv. R. Wardrobe (1815) 62 Item ane pair of beidis of raisit wark with galdeis of aget. 1560 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 147, vj parr of beadds with zigs and siluer gawdies. |
† 2. A taper (see quot. 1852). Obs.
| 1531 in Blomefield Norfolk (1739) I. 182, I gif half an Acr of Lond..to find yerely evermore, v. Gawdyes Brenning before our Lady, in the Chancel of St. John Baptist. 1852 Rock Ch. of Fathers III. i. 277 The tapers themselves, from being meant to commemorate the Virgin's five joys, were called ‘gawdyes’ from the Latin word ‘gaude’ which begins the hymn in memory of these five joys. |
† 3. A bright-coloured ornament; a toy, bauble, gewgaw; = gaud n.2 2. Obs.
| 1555 Eden Decades 209 They make also little brasselets whiche they mengle with gaudies of golde. |
† 4. Rejoicing, joy; a festival, merry-making.
| 1535 Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 18 Hauyng no respecte..to the gaudye and reioyse of our aduersaries. Ibid. 43. 1540 Palsgrave Acolastus i. iv. G iij b, That we maye make our tryumphe .i. kepe our gaudyes, or let vs sette the cocke on the hope, and make good chere. 1647 Trapp Comm. Matt. ix. 10 When a sinner repents there are gaudies in heaven. |
5. A grand feast or entertainment; esp. an annual dinner in commemoration of some event in the history of a college.
| 1651 Randolph, etc. Hey for Honesty v. 40, I know Some that have spent whole Hecatombs of Beef To give the gods their gawdies. 1686 Wilding in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 264 Towards a Gaudy..00 01 00. 1710 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 100 No Gaudy before as Dr. Crosthwait reported. [1726 Amherst Terræ Fil. xlix. 264 Sir William Paddy, knt. gave, by will..twenty shillings for a feast (call'd in the university a gaudium) upon the anniversary day of his death..This was given anno 1634.] a 1763 Shenstone Charms Preced. 32 What moves that scientific body, But the first cutting at a gawdy? 1803 Gradus ad Cantab. (1824) 122 Cut lectures..give Gaudies and Spreads. 1823 Lockhart Reg. Dalton iii. i. (1842) 183 Such a scene as..a College Gaudy was like to be. 1878 Besant & Rice Celia's Arb. xv, We went home to a sort of Great Grand Day dinner, a Gaudy, a City Feast. 1882 T. Mozley Remin. I. lx. 380 One of the Oriel gaudies or festive anniversaries. c 1893 J. A. Symonds in Biogr. (1895) I. 224 My father had recently sat next him at a Magdalen Gaudy. |
† b. pl. ‘Commons’ for gaudy-days. Obs.
| 1618 in M. Burrows Worthies All Souls ix. (1874) 154 Whereas our Gaudyes on All Soules Day to the Side Tables in the Hall were but five dishes to every Messe. 1620 Ibid. viii. 139 This I doe not..to prevent any dues either of plate or gawdies usually to be paid. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Gaudies, double Commons, such as are allowed on gaudy Days. |
† c. Dainties, luxurious viands. Obs.
| 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 275 If at any time we had pease porrige (which was very seldome, that we had such Gau-dies [sic]). |
6. Comb., as † gaudy-shop, a shop for finery.
| 1620 Middleton Chaste Maid i. ii, Embroderings, spanglings, and I know not what, As if she lay with all the gaudy Shops In Gressams Bursse about her. |
▪ II. ˈgaudy, a.1 Obs. exc. arch.
Also 4–5 gaude, 5 gawdy, 6 gawdie.
[app. f. OF. gaude weld + -y1; the form gaude may be the OFr. word adopted and used attrib.]
Only in Comb. gaudy-green, green dyed with weld, yellowish green.
In the first quot. gaudi of grene may be a mistake for gaudi grene, or the word may be a n. evolved from the combination.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 167 Enbrauded abof, wyth bryddes & flyȝes, With gay gaudi of grene, þe golde ay in myddes. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1221 In gaude grene hire statue clothed was. c 1420 Lydg. Assemb. Gods 320 Hyr gowne was of gawdy grene chamelet. c 1440 Anc. Cookery in Househ. Ord. (1790) 452 Colour hit gaude grene. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 189/1 Gawdy grene, subviridis. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 4 How falls it then, we no merrier beene, Ylike as others, girt in gawdie greene. 1590 Greene Never too Late (1600) P 3 b, It was a valley gawdy greene. 1902 W. de la Mare Songs of Childhood 29 There's a ring gaudy-green in the dell. |
▪ III. gaudy, a.2
(ˈgɔːdɪ)
Forms: 6 gaudie, -ye, 7–8 gawdy, 7 -ie, 6– gaudy.
[Of somewhat uncertain formation. Sense 1 looks like an attributive use of gaudy n. 4; cf. quot. 1540 there. In senses 2 and 3 the word may have been apprehended as if f. gaud n.2 + -y1.]
† 1. Of fare: Luxurious. Obs. [Cf. OF. gaudechere, ? ad. Eng. ‘good cheer’.]
| 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus iv. ii. S iij b, I haue good cause to set the cocke on the hope, and make gaudye chere. a 1550 Hye Way to Spittel Ho. 244 in Hazlitt E.P.P. IV. 35 Where they make reuell and gaudy chere. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 554 The greatest exceeding..and gaudiest fare at a feast, was serued vp in three platters. |
† 2. Full of trickery. Obs. [Cf. gaud n.2 1.]
| a 1529 Skelton Agst. Garnesche ii. 36 Gup, Garnysche, gaudy fole. Ibid. iii. 120 Gawdy, gresy, Garnesche. |
3. a. Brilliantly fine or gay, highly ornate, showy. Now chiefly in disparaging sense: Excessively or glaringly showy, tastelessly gay or fine.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 37 To the ende they may seeme gaudie to the eie, they must be stitched finelie. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. iii. 71 Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy; But not exprest in fancie: rich, not gawdie. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. ii. §2 Scriveners use with gaudy flourishes to deck and garnish the initial characters of Copies. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess., Hymn to Light v, The Gawdy Heav'nly Bow. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. iii. (1845) 191 They..almost worship a Man for wearing a Gaudy suit of Cloaths. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 151 ¶1 Gawdy Ribands and glaring Colours being now out of Use. 1720 Gay Wks. (1745) II. 181 There from the gawdy train select a dame. 1722 Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. iii. 184 He wrote..against pride, gaudy apparel [etc.]. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. vi, An intricate winding of gaudy colours. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. II. vii. 154 The gaudy daffodils were flaunting everywhere. |
b. said of immaterial things; esp. of diction, etc.; hence of a speaker or writer.
| 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. §235 A gaudy Letter of kindness and value, was sent to Colonel Massy. a 1674 Ibid. xi. §143 Those gaudy promises which the Cardinal had made. 1655 Baxter Quaker Catech. 9 A late notable gawdy Orator. a 1701 Sedley Poems Wks. 1722 I. 58 In gaudy Dreams your Love and Beauty shine. 1726 Butler Serm. Rolls vi. 113 The florid and gaudy Prospects..which we are too apt to indulge. 1830 Mackintosh Eth. Philos. Wks. 1846 I. 45 The natural proneness of metaphysical speculations to degenerate into gaudy dreams. 1836 Emerson Nature, Prospects Wks. (Bohn) II. 172 When the fact is seen under the light of an idea, the gaudy fable fades and shrivels. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xx. 262 When this gaudy world has ceased to charm. |
c. slang. In negative sentences: Very good.
| 1884 H. Smart From Post to Finish II. ix. 130. I don't think they are likely to give him a very ‘gaudy chance’. 1894 Sir J. D. Astley Fifty Years Life II. 96 They [the horses] were not a gaudy lot, and only fetched {pstlg}3500. |
4. Comb., chiefly parasynthetic, as gaudy coloured, gaudy-feathered, † gaudy hearted, gaudy-minded, gaudy-speckled adjs.
| a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 140 As Indians use With *gawdy colour'd Plumes Their homely nether Parts 't adorn. |
| 1824 ‘H. L. Howard’ Joseph & Brethren ii. 123 The gaudy-colour'd story of his mind. 1921 W. de la Mare Crossings 67 Muffled up in a gaudy-coloured shawl. |
| a 1668 Davenant To the Queen Poems (1673) 246 Your voice, which can allure, and charme the best Most *gawdy-feather'd Chaunter of the East. |
| 1599 Middleton & Rowley Old Law ii. i. (1656) D 2 b, A cunning griefe, That's only fac'd with sables for a shew, But *gawdy hearted. |
| 1742 Young Nt. Th. vi. 238 Were they as vain, as *gaudy-minded man, As flatulent with fumes of self-applause. |
| a 1631 Donne Elegy xxi. 47 Shall I a *gawdie-speckled serpent kisse? |
▪ IV. ˈgaudy, v.
Also 6 galdie.
[f. gaudy n. and a.2]
† 1. trans. To furnish (a rosary) with ‘gaudies’.
| 1482 Paston Lett. No. 861 III. 287 My peir bedys of calcidenys gaudied with silver and gilt. 1513 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 40 On paire of corrall beydes gawdied w{supt} silver. 1542 Inv. R. Wardrobe (1815) 62 Item ane pair of beidis of jaspe galdeit with gold. |
2. To deck out, make smart or gaudy. rare.
| 1805 Southey Madoc in W. vii, Not half so gaudied, for their May-day mirth, All wreathed and ribanded, our youths and maids, As these stern Aztecas in war attire! |