dowdy

Plain and unfashionable in style or dress.

Lacking stylishness or neatness; shabby.

• [...she was] a perfect saint amongst women, but so dreadfully dowdy that she reminded one of a badly bound hymn-book.
• Miss Marina Thompson, a distant cousin of my husband's. She's rather dowdy, is she not?

A plain or shabby person.

• “I knew there were women-dowdies in Bengal. They come up here sometimes. But I didn't know that there were men-dowds, too.”
• The men are all dowdies and the women are all dandies, aren't they?

To press the crust into the filling during baking, to allow the juices to caramelize on top.transitive

• Topping the apples with squares of dough allowed steam to escape during baking, preventing the apples from overcooking. Dowdying the crust partway through created the dessert's sweet finish.