blowsy

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   dated and disparaging, especially of a woman: untidy, coarse, or excessively florid in appearance

   The caricature portrayed her as a blowsy innkeeper with loose hair and flushed cheeks.

2. 2
   adj

   having a red, puffy, or coarsely flushed complexion

   After hours beside the stove, his face looked hot and blowsy.

From obsolete blowze ("a beggar's female companion") + -y; the deeper origin of blowze is unknown. The word came to describe a coarse, flushed, or untidy appearance and is now dated and often offensive. Blowzy is an established spelling variant.

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