■ noun an unattractive woman who wears dowdy old-fashioned clothes.
Derivatives
~ily adverb
~iness noun
~ish adjective
~ishly adverb
~y adjective ( ~ier , ~iest ).
Origin
C16 (orig. in sense 'mocking speech', later 'bad-tempered woman'): prob. a contr. of ME ~le 'wrinkle', from MDu. verrompelen .