Drabbed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have added a dull or lifeless quality to something
2. to have made an item appear less colorful or energetic
3. to have rendered a situation or atmosphere monotonous and uninspiring

Etymology: The verb "drabbed" comes from the noun "drab", which in English meant a dull brownish-grey cloth before it described a dull colour or a dreary mood. The noun most likely reached English from Middle French and Old French "drap" ("cloth"), which in turn may trace back to Late Latin "drappus", a piece of cloth or kerchief, probably borrowed from a Gaulish word. A second theory links it to a Frankish word for cloth that had been fulled, or beaten to thicken it, and that idea ties the cloth sense to the sense of striking. The noun's ultimate origin remains uncertain. The verb itself is a later formation. It was built from the noun, so to drab something was to make it dull, dirty or lifeless, carrying the drab cloth's colour and dreariness into whatever was touched. The past form "drabbed" simply records that action in the past.