broadcloth vs drab

broadcloth

noun
  • A dense, plain woven cloth, usually made of cotton or a cotton blend. 

  • A fine smooth-faced woolen cloth for men’s garments, usually of double width (i.e., a yard and a half); so called in distinction from woolens three quarters of a yard wide. 

drab

noun
  • A fabric, usually of thick cotton or wool, having a dull brownish yellow, dull grey, or dun colour. 

  • An instance of a transgender or non-binary person presenting as the gender corresponding to their sex assigned at birth instead of that corresponding to their internal gender identity (for instance, a trans woman dressed as a man). 

  • A dull or uninteresting appearance or situation, unremarkable. 

  • Often in the plural form drabs: apparel, especially trousers, made from this fabric. 

  • The colour of this fabric. 

  • A small amount, especially of money. 

  • A box used in a saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans. 

adj
  • Of the colour of some types of drabcloth: dull brownish yellow or dun. 

  • Particularly of colour: dull, uninteresting. 

How often have the words broadcloth and drab occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )