1.11.11

Word of the Day-Chintzy

http://wordsmith.org/words/yester.html

chintzy

PRONUNCIATION:
(CHINT-see)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Decorated with chintz.
2. Cheap; gaudy; inferior.
3. Stingy.

ETYMOLOGY:
From chintz, a printed cotton fabric imported from India, from Hindi chheent (spattering, stain). Earliest documented use: 1851.

USAGE:
"Mohammed Al Fayed may have turned the once chintzy department store into a successful luxury brand."
Jan Moir; Sphinxes. A Diana Shrine. Piles of Tat; Daily Mail (London, UK); May 15, 2010.

"I wasn't going to spend a nickel on anything else, so it treated me like any chintzy customer."
Frank Gray; For $14.95, Get a Knife, Hard Time; The Journal Gazette

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