linen

[ lin-uh n ]

/ ˈlɪn ən /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR linen ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

fabric woven from flax yarns.

Often linens. bedding, tablecloths, shirts, etc., made of linen cloth or a more common substitute, as cotton.

yarn made of flax fiber.

thread made of flax yarns.

adjective

made of linen: a linen jacket.

Nearby words

Idioms

wash one's dirty linen in public, to discuss in public one's private scandals, disagreements, or difficulties.

Origin of linen

before 900; Middle English lin(n)en (noun, adj.), Old English linnen, līnen (adj.) made of flax, equivalent to līn flax (< Latin līnum; see line²) + -en -en²

Related formslin·en·y, adjectivehalf-lin·en, adjectiveun·der·lin·en, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for linen

Davis jumped over a 4-foot porch wall and ran into a house, where he and others crammed themselves into a linen closet.
‘Argo’ in the Congo: The Ghosts of the Stanleyville Hostage Crisis|Nina Strochlic|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The edges of the elegant paper are crackled; the ink bled into the linen weave long ago and has not faded.
How Gettysburg Did Not Unlock the Past|Laird Hunt|September 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A linen shirt, for example, is, strictly speaking, not a necessary of life.
What We Can Learn From Rioting in Sweden|Megan McArdle|May 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The Greeks and Romans lived, I suppose, very comfortably though they had no linen.
What We Can Learn From Rioting in Sweden|Megan McArdle|May 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST

Still, traces of her old life—the Glock in her linen closet, for one—linger.
This Week’s Hot Reads: Oct. 15, 2012|Mythili Rao|October 15, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The chrisom was the linen cloth, or garment, which the priest put on the recently baptized child.
Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England|Edward L. Cutts
She shuddered as she saw a spot of blood becoming larger and larger upon the linen bandages.
The Vicomte de Bragelonne|Alexandre Dumas
This made Cinderella's lot still harder, for it was she who ironed her sisters' linen and plaited their ruffles.
The Tales of Mother Goose|Charles Perrault
His teacher was sitting with her back to the door, arranging the worsted in the large, linen worsted-case.
The Grasshopper Stories|Elizabeth Davis Leavitt
With the ravelings of a linen handkerchief, aided by the magic buckle-tongue, I mended my clothing.
Thirty-Seven Days of Peril|Truman Everts

British Dictionary definitions for linen

linen

/ (ˈlɪnɪn) /

noun

a hard-wearing fabric woven from the spun fibres of flax
(as modifier)a linen tablecloth

yarn or thread spun from flax fibre

clothes, sheets, tablecloths, etc, made from linen cloth or from a substitute such as cotton

See linen paper

Word Origin for linen

Old English linnen, ultimately from Latin līnum flax, line ²

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

Word Origin and History for linen

linen

"cloth from woven flax," early 14c.; earlier as an adjective, "made of flax" (c.1200), from Old English linin (adj.) "made of flax," from lin "flax, linen thread, cloth," from West Germanic *linam (cf. Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old High German lin "flax, linen," German Leinen "linen," Gothic lein "linen cloth"), probably an early borrowing from Latin linum "flax, linen," which, along with Greek linon is from a non-IE language.

Idioms and Phrases with linen

linen

see wash one's dirty linen in public.

linen

noun

adjective

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Nearby words

Idioms

Origin of linen

Examples from the Web for linen

linen

noun

Word Origin for linen

linen

linen