No one could deny that Grace was clever, but she was poor, dressed very plainly-"dowdily," the girls said-and "roomed" herself, that phrase meaning that she rented a little unfurnished room and cooked her own meals over an oil stove.
"Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1896 to 1901"
Lucy Maud Montgomery
But at every ball there is sure to be some elderly woman, ugly, dowdily dressed, who still has the assurance to take her place among the dancers.
"Monsieur Cherami"
Charles Paul de Kock
Could he have seen, Carrados would have received the impression of a plainly, almost dowdily, dressed young woman of buxom figure.
"Max Carrados"
Ernest Bramah