SHODDY • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Shoddy

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/ʃˈɑdi/ Listen

adjective

Shoddy adj.

Made wholly or in part of shoddy; containing shoddy; as, shoddy cloth; shoddy blankets; hence, colloquially, not genuine; sham; pretentious; as, shoddy aristocracy. "Shoddy inventions designed to bolster up a factitious pride."

Of poor quality or inferior workmanship.

Visibly worn or damaged from use; shabby.

noun

Shoddy n.

A fibrous material obtained by "deviling," or tearing into fibers, refuse woolen goods, old stockings, rags, druggets, etc. See Mungo.

Fluffy, fibrous waste from wool carding, worsted spinning, or weaving of woolens.

A fabric of inferior quality made of, or containing a large amount of, shoddy. Note: The great quantity of shoddy goods furnished as army supplies in the late Civil War in the United States gave wide currency to the word, and it came to be applied to persons who pretend to a higher position in society than that to which their breeding or worth entitles them; this term is now (1997) rarely used in that sense.

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Etymology of 'Shoddy'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Shoddy" Quotes from Famous Books

... stood for hours under broiling southern sun, waiting for rations and shelter, while ignorant officers were slowly learning their unaccustomed duties. At night they were compelled to lie wrapped in shoddy blankets upon rotten straw. Under such conditions these brave volunteers suffered severely and camp diseases became alarmingly prevalent. But the miserable makeshifts used as hospitals were so bad that sick men fought for the privilege of dying in ...

— Starr King in California • William Day Simonds

... long and disjointed talk by "the professor." He was held to no account for his work, and whether it was right or wrong made little difference. He found that his teacher would profess to know things of which he knew he was ignorant, and, in a word, that there was an air of shoddy, not to say dishonesty, ...

— The Evolution of Dodd • William Hawley Smith

... be not rainy he reaches his train unscathed. But if that new suit, with "jail-bird" written all over it in characters which all detectives and police, at least, can read as they run, chance to get wet, the raw shoddy forthwith shrivels miserably up, and the wearer's ankles and wrists stick out so betrayingly that a mere child might recognize the sinister source of the garments. But, anyhow, a few days' wear will so wrinkle and crease and deform the suit that it becomes unwearable, ...

— The Subterranean Brotherhood • Julian Hawthorne

... attention, as his dress was not exactly that of a Quaker, and otherwise he was not quite of the Quaker type; and it was a Quaker church in which he was. But he wasted no thoughts upon his apparel, and did not stop to think or care whether he was arrayed in shoddy or fine linen. ...

— From Boyhood to Manhood • William M. Thayer

... no thieving contractor, no 'helping' official, no shoddy scoundrel, no unrighteously 'commission' gathering leech, who is not quietly noted down here and there, to be duly exposed, some soon—some in after years. We know that extensive researches have been undertaken, to prepare and keep in black ...

— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 3, No. 1 January 1863 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

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