GAUDY  , an

adjective meaning showy, very bright, gay, especially with a sense of tasteless or vulgar extravagance, of colour or ornament . The accurate origin of the various senses which this word and the substantive " gaud " have taken are somewhat difficult to trace . They are all ultimately to be referred to the Lat. gaudere, to rejoice, gaudium, joy, some of them directly, others to the French derivative gaudir, to rejoice, and O.Fr. gaudie . ,As a noun, in the sense of rejoicing or feast, " gaudy " is still used of a commemoration dinner at a college at the university of Oxford . " Gaud," meaning generally a toy, a gay adornment, a piece of showy jewelry, is more specifically applied to larger and more decorative beads in a rosary .