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balbriggan

[bal-brig-uh n]
noun
  1. a plain-knit cotton fabric, used especially in hosiery and underwear.
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Origin of balbriggan

First recorded in 1855–60; after Balbriggan, town in Ireland, where first made
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for balbriggan

Historical Examples

  • Balbriggan is much frequented as a watering-place in summer.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2

    Various

  • Paper is manufactured on a considerable scale in various places, and Balbriggan is celebrated for its hosiery.

  • Balbriggan, a seaport and favourite watering-place, Ireland, county of Dublin; celebrated for its hosiery.

  • The factory girl has taken to silk stockings and fine lingerie and the lady to Balbriggan and calico.

    Women's Wild Oats

    C. Gasquoine Hartley

  • Egyptian cotton is very fine and is used mainly in the manufacture of thread and the finer grades of balbriggan underwear.

    Commercial Geography

    Jacques W. Redway

British Dictionary definitions for balbriggan

balbriggan

noun
  1. a knitted unbleached cotton fabric
  2. (often plural) underwear made of this
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Word Origin

C19: from Balbriggan, Ireland, where it was originally made
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012