The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Tawdry \Taw"dry\, a. [Compar. Tawdrier; superl. Tawdriest.]
   [Said to be corrupted from Saint Audrey, or Auldrey, meaning
   Saint Ethelreda, implying therefore, originally, bought at
   the fair of St. Audrey, where laces and gay toys of all sorts
   were sold. This fair was held in Isle Ely, and probably at
   other places, on the day of the saint, which was the 17th of
   October.]
   1. Bought at the festival of St. Audrey. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            And gird in your waist,
            For more fineness, with a tawdry lace. --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Very fine and showy in colors, without taste or elegance;
      having an excess of showy ornaments without grace; cheap
      and gaudy; as, a tawdry dress; tawdry feathers; tawdry
      colors.
      [1913 Webster]

            He rails from morning to night at essenced fops and
            tawdry courtiers.                     --Spectator.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Tawdry \Taw"dry\, n.; pl. Tawdries.
   A necklace of a rural fashion, bought at St. Audrey's fair;
   hence, a necklace in general. [Obs.]
   [1913 Webster]

         Of which the Naiads and the blue Nereids make
         Them tawdries for their necks.           --Drayton.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

tawdry
    adj 1: tastelessly showy; "a flash car"; "a flashy ring";
           "garish colors"; "a gaudy costume"; "loud sport shirts";
           "a meretricious yet stylish book"; "tawdry ornaments"
           [syn: brassy, cheap, flash, flashy, garish,
           gaudy, gimcrack, loud, meretricious, tacky,
           tatty, tawdry, trashy]
    2: cheap and shoddy; "cheapjack moviemaking...that feeds on the
       low taste of the mob"- Judith Crist [syn: cheapjack,
       shoddy, tawdry]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

37 Moby Thesaurus words for "tawdry":
   blatant, brazen, brazenfaced, brummagem, cheap, cheapjack, chintzy,
   colorful, common, crude, extravagant, flagrant, flaring, flashy,
   flaunting, garish, gaudy, glaring, gorgeous, loud, lurid,
   meretricious, obtrusive, plastic, screaming, sensational, shabby,
   shameless, showy, sleazy, spectacular, tacky, tatty, tinny, tinsel,
   tinselly, vulgar