shabby

adj

1. Of clothing, a place, etc.: unkempt and worn or otherwise in poor condition due to age or neglect; scruffy.

   “They lived in a tiny apartment, with some old, shabby furniture.”

   “[A]s there was a stream of people pouring into a shabby house not far from the entrance, he waited until they had made their way in, […]”

   “[C]ommonplace books are generally new, or at least in fine bindings. And here was a shabby little old book, such as, if it had been commonplace, would not have been likely to be the companion of a young lady at the bottom of a quarry— […]”

   “[They] lived […] in one of the shabbiest streets in the debatable land between Pimlico and Chelsea—by courtesy, South Belgravia.”

   “Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.”

2. Of a person: wearing ragged or very worn, and often dirty, clothing.

   “The fellow arrived looking rather shabby after journeying so far.”

   “The ſame gentleman, vvhenever he vvanted credit for a ſuit of cloaths, alvvays made the propoſal in a laced coat; for he found by experience, that, if he appeared ſhabby on theſe occaſions, his taylor had taken an oath againſt truſting; […]”

   “She told her name, and vvas ſhevvn, by a little ſhabby foot-boy, into a parlour.”

   “He was an affectionate brother, always glad to do a good turn to his sisters—who lived with a shabby old half-pay father, […]”

3. (figuratively)Of a person, their behaviour, etc.: despicable, mean; also, not generous; stingy, tight-fisted.

   “shabby treatment”

   “"A thousand dollars are money, my father used to say when he drove fat oxen to market," replied John Wilde, in a mocking tone; "but it will not leave my hands for that shabby price; and, for my own part, it may ornament the foot of my daughter's doll."”

   “It was voted a shabby excuse.”

   “I, being more of a native, and familiar with their customs, knew that this shabby present was an insult to us.”

   “What shabby things a man will do when he's eaten up with jealousy! But what a comfort those shabby things are to him! […] I'm disgusted with myself for having stooped to such a contemptible act.”

4. (figuratively)Poor in quality; also, showing little effort or talent.

   “His painting is not too shabby.”

   “[M]y Lord Duke's entertainments were both ſeldom and ſhabby […]”

   “So unlooked-for a paradox required to be defended by the strongest arguments: who, then, would expect such shabby, not arguments, but hints of arguments, as the author presents us with?”

5. (archaic, figuratively)Poor in quality; also, showing little effort or talent.
6. (UK, dialectal, figuratively, informal)Poor in quality; also, showing little effort or talent.
7. (UK, dialectal, figuratively)Poor in quality; also, showing little effort or talent.

verb

1. (transitive)To make (something) shabby (adjective sense 1); to shabbify.
2. (intransitive)To become shabby; to shabbify.

   “You'll be one of those tough, square, solid middle-aged men, like a shabbying brown bear, your golden crew-cut greying judiciously at the temples.”