garish

Unknown, possibly from obsolete Middle English gawren (“to stare”) which is of uncertain origin, probably from Old Norse gá (“to watch, heed”) or gaurr (“rough fellow”) (Proto-Indo-European *gʰow-rós, from *gʰew- (“to be angry”)).[1][2] Compare with English gaw.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛəɹɪʃ/

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garish (comparative more garish, superlative most garish)

1. Overly ostentatious; so colourful as to be in bad taste. [from 1540s]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:gaudy

   The dress fits her well, but the pattern is rather garish.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […]."

   • 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 703:

     On the other hand, to arrive after dusk, when the multitude of garish little public-houses are lit up, giving glimpses of crowded jostling bars and taprooms, is an introduction to a fine city well calculated to affect even the most nonchalant.

   • 2003 August 10, Ken Keeler, “The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings”, in Futurama, season 5, episode 16 (television production), Fox Broadcasting Company:

     Leela: He gave me mechanical ears / Effective though just a bit garish.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 57:

     She also said that Thameslink trains were deliberately garish, so as to lure drivers stuck on the M1, which runs alongside the line around Radlett.

• garishly
• garishness

• Harigs, girahs, girsha