owdacious=?

[ostap77]

I've been trying to find the meaning of it but credible dictionaries don't give the slightest idea of what it might mean. I bet it's way out of date.

"What do you mean,Sir, by this owdacious conduct"?

I pulled up a couple of examples used in literature but could not find any meaning.

"'Because they' ave been goin 'on most owdacious before'and."

 

[birdeen's call]

It's a misspelling of "audacious", perhaps meant to render a mispronunciation.

 

[Coolfootluke]

I am not a teacher.

You have been reading a book with what is sometimes called "eye dialect", misspellings that are intended to render an accent in speech. "Durn" is "darn", for instance. The speaker seems to be a hick.

 

[ostap77]

It's a misspelling of "audacious", perhaps meant to render a mispronunciation.

I've come across a number of sentnces with this kind of spelling. It couldn't been misspelled many times. Did you get it from a dictionary?

 

[bhaisahab]

I've come across a number of sentnces with this kind of spelling. It couldn't been misspelled many times. Did you get it from a dictionary?

As birdeen's call said it is a (probably intentional) misspelling of "audacious". There is no such word as "owdacious".

 

[birdeen's call]

But "durn" is a recognized word, although it is dialectal.

 

[ostap77]

But "durn" is a recognized word, although it is dialectal.

I'll back you up there. :up:

 

[Tdol]

There are some examples here:
owdacious - example sentences from Wordnik
It looks like a deliberate mis-spelling to reflect a pronunciation.

 

[BobK]

Yes. The character is not well educated. He would normally use a more familiar word like bold/daring/cheeky/cocky [an abbreviation of 'cock-sure']/'sure of themselves'... or use an informal idiom such as 'they've got a nerve'. He learnt to spell out words, but not to read fluently. He has seen an unfamiliar word, and produced a mispronunciation.

b