flannel
[flan-l]
- a soft, slightly napped fabric of wool or wool and another fiber, used for trousers, jackets, shirts, etc.
- a soft, warm, light fabric of cotton or cotton and another fiber, thickly napped on one side and used for sleepwear, undergarments, sheets, etc.
- flannels,
- an outer garment, especially trousers, made of flannel.
- woolen undergarments.
- British.
- a washcloth.
- Informal.nonsense; humbug; empty talk.
- Informal.flattery; insincere or overdone praise.
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- to cover or clothe with flannel.
- to rub with flannel.
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Origin of flannel
1300–50; Middle English flaunneol, perhaps dissimilated variant of flanyn sackcloth < Welsh; compare Welsh gwlanen woolen article, equivalent to gwlân wool (akin to Latin lāna) + -en suffix denoting a single item (as a piece of a mass noun or singular of a collective plural)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
thermalsExamples from the Web for flannel
Contemporary Examples
Have you met the lumbersexual: all beards, flannel shirts, and work boots?
Wearing dashikis, yukatas, and flannel robes—any kind of billowing uni-garment will do the trick.
Although there was that grungy-vibe (flannel shirts and biker boots), it was girly, young even.
He was unshaven, with a full mustache and wearing a flannel shirt over a hooded sweatshirt.
Mehlman, a man seemingly born in a well-pressed suit, basked in the victory, relaxed in a flannel shirt.
Historical Examples
In a word, I had nothing on me but my drawers and a flannel shirt.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
Let it steep fourteen days, and then strain it through a flannel bag.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesEliza Leslie
Gather them while the shells are very soft, and rub them all with a flannel.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesEliza Leslie
He wore, indeed, a shabby greenish-gray suit, and a flannel shirt.
The Coryston FamilyMrs. Humphry Ward
In hot weather I place a piece of ice in flannel on the top of the pail.
Black BassCharles Barker Bradford
flannel
- a soft light woollen fabric with a slight nap, used for clothing
- (plural) trousers or other garments made of flannel
- See cotton flannel
- British a small piece of cloth used to wash the face and hands; face clothUS and Canadian equivalent: washcloth
- British informal indirect or evasive talk; deceiving flattery
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- to cover or wrap with flannel
- to rub, clean, or polish with flannel
- British informal to talk evasively to; flatter in order to mislead
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Word Origin
C14: probably variant of flanen sackcloth, from Welsh gwlanen woollen fabric, from gwlân wool
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for flannel
n.
c.1500, probably from Welsh gwlanen "woolen cloth," from gwlan "wool," from Celtic *wlana, from PIE *wele- "wool."
The Welsh origin is not a universally accepted etymology, due to the sound changes involved; some (Barnhart, Gamillscheg) suggest the English word is from an Anglo-French diminutive of Old French flaine "a kind of coarse wool." "As flannel was already in the 16th c. a well-known production of Wales, a Welsh origin for the word seems antecedently likely" [OED]. Modern French flanelle is a 17c. borrowing from English.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper