Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DRAB, n.¹ [Sax. drabbe, lees, dregs; D. drabbe, dregs. This seems to be the Dan. draabe, a drop.]

1. A strumpet; a prostitute. – Shak. Pope.
2. A low, sluttish woman. [This seems to be the sense in which it is generally used in New England.]
3. A kind of wooden box, used in salt-works for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling-pans. Its bottom is shelving or inclining, that the water may drain off. – Encyc.