crinoline

American  

[krin-l-in] / ˈkrɪn l ɪn /

noun

1. a petticoat of haircloth or other stiff material, worn under a full skirt to keep it belled out.

2. a stiff, coarse cotton material for interlining.

3. a hoop skirt.

4. a reinforcement of iron straps for holding together brickwork, as of a furnace or chimney.

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crinoline British  

/ ˈkrɪnəlɪn /

noun

1. a stiff fabric, originally of horsehair and linen used in lining garments

2. a petticoat stiffened with this, worn to distend skirts, esp in the mid-19th century

3. a framework of steel hoops worn for the same purpose

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Etymology

Origin of crinoline

1820–30; < French < Italian crinolino, equivalent to crino horse-hair (≪ Latin crīnis hair) + lino flax < Latin līnum; cf. linen

Explanation

Crinoline is a stiff, coarse type of fabric that can make some clothes rigid. If you want an extra puffy skirt, put a layer of crinoline under it. You ever notice how a hat is stiffer than other clothes? The material that often makes it stiff is called crinoline. Crinoline also used to be popular as material in woman's skirts, the kind of skirts that were two or three times wider than the woman: crinoline helped achieve that effect. Crinoline was originally made with horsehair, but now material with the same purpose is still called crinoline, though it might have a different composition.

Example Sentences

Robert Forrest Wilson, 59, historian, novelist, playwright, biographer; after long illness; six days after he won the Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Crusader in Crinoline; in Weston, Conn. Died.

From Time Magazine Archive

We found Swears hard at work keeping the crowd from touching the Crinoline.

From The War of the Wenuses by Graves, Charles L. (Charles Larcom)

Paris fashion's transmarine— Let us stop by quarantine Catastrophic Crinoline!

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, January 14, 1893 by Various

Most of the people were staring quietly at the Crinoline, totally unaware of its significance.

From The War of the Wenuses by Graves, Charles L. (Charles Larcom)

The Second Crinoline had fallen in my back garden.

From The War of the Wenuses by Graves, Charles L. (Charles Larcom)