Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Tawdry \Taw"dry\, a. [Compar. {Tawdrier}; superl. {Tawdriest}.]
   [Said to be corrupted from Saint Audrey, or Auldrey, meaning
   Saint Ethelreda, implying therefore, originally, bought at
   the fair of St. Audrey, where laces and gay toys of all sorts
   were sold. This fair was held in Isle Ely, and probably at
   other places, on the day of the saint, which was the 17th of
   October.]
   1. Bought at the festival of St. Audrey. [Obs.]

            And gird in your waist, For more fineness, with a
            tawdry lace.                          --Spenser.

   2. Very fine and showy in colors, without taste or elegance;
      having an excess of showy ornaments without grace; cheap
      and gaudy; as, a tawdry dress; tawdry feathers; tawdry
      colors.

Tawdry \Taw"dry\, n.; pl. {Tawdries}.
   A necklace of a rural fashion, bought at St. Audrey's fair;
   hence, a necklace in general. [Obs.]

         Of which the Naiads and the blue Nereids make Them
         tawdries for their necks.                --Drayton.

Source : WordNet®

tawdry
     adj 1: tastelessly showy; "a flash car"; "a flashy ring"; "garish
            colors"; "a gaudy costume"; "loud sport shirts"; "a
            meretricious yet stylish book"; "tawdry ornaments"
            [syn: {brassy}, {cheap}, {flash}, {flashy}, {garish},
            {gaudy}, {gimcrack}, {loud}, {meretricious}, {tacky},
            {tatty}, {trashy}]
     2: cheap and shoddy; "cheapjack moviemaking...that feeds on the
        low taste of the mob"- Judith Crist [syn: {cheapjack}, {shoddy}]
     [also: {tawdriest}, {tawdrier}]