“The warm practical clothes of winter whose sole functions were to provide warmth and comfort are shed as their weight and dowdiness becomes unbearable.”

“They know nothing of the authentic scent of dust and dowdiness.”

“Anxious to upgrade your e-meter to something that doesn't scream early noughties dowdiness?”

“My friend had met Mr Dowd before when he had turned up at her doorstep canvassing for votes.”

“It must have rankled her to see other people rise to the top, even Dowd and Gail Collins, the editorial page editor.”

“Yet as Dowd knows, it's not the popular vote that counts, since state-by-state Electoral College numbers determine the winner.”

“I hear she went to the Opera on Monday night, and told Tommy Rufford at supper that, as far as she could see, London Society was entirely made up of dowdies and dandies.”