Wondrous Words Wednesday
Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by Bermudaonion’s Weblog. Kathy says: “Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading.”
My word this week is from American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard in a passage about the late 1600s when the English crown was trying to establish control over the independent-minded and strait-laced Puritans.
Anglicans and suspected Catholics were appointed to top government and militia positions, backed by uncouth royal troops who witnesses said “began to teach New England to drab, drink, blasphemy, curse and damn.”
I know drab as an adjective meaning dull, but not as a verb. According to my Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, there’s a noun form, too. A drab is a slattern or harlot, so the verb to drab means “to associate with prostitutes.” It’s easy to see why the Puritans might have a problem with that.
