| AskEraser | Settings |
[From tawdry lace, lace necktie, alteration of Saint Audrey's lace (sold at the annual Saint Audrey's fair, Ely, England), after Saint Audrey (Saint Etheldreda), queen of Northumbria, who died in 679 of a throat tumor, supposedly because she delighted in fancy necklaces as a young woman.]
![]() | The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth EditionCopyright © 2005, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated 2005. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. |