linoleum
[li-noh-lee-uh m]
- a hard, washable floor covering formed by coating burlap or canvas with linseed oil, powdered cork, and rosin, and adding pigments to create the desired colors and patterns.
- any floor covering similar to this.
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Origin of linoleum
1863; < Latin līn(um) flax, linen + oleum oil; formerly trademark
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for linoleum
Contemporary Examples
Painted arrows on the linoleum floor direct you where to stand in line.
In being gutted by a linoleum knife, that dark image that Hannibal had instilled in him had been freed.
Hugh Dancy on ‘Hannibal’s’ Brilliantly Batsh*t Finale and the Future of Will GrahamMarlow Stern
May 24, 2014
Her door is the one at the far end of a linoleum hall, nearest the street.
Five Great Literary Homes, From Pemberley to Ruth’sMarch 18, 2014
He would slap me, hard, one time knocking me to the linoleum floor.
Raped by a Teacher: One Woman’s Tragic Past at the Horace Mann SchoolAbigail Pesta
September 19, 2012
"This will not stop the public," he says, as grown men weep around him and harsh lights beam onto the linoleum.
Historical Examples
"Looks like a linoleum pattern," was the comment of one of the men.
The Lure of the MaskHarold MacGrath
We went into the bedroom and, gazing on the linoleum, my enthusiasm returned to me.
Once a WeekAlan Alexander Milne
Would you finish your tea, and then we will buy the linoleum for the cubicles.
The Longest JourneyE. M. Forster
The carpet covered only two-thirds of the floor, and was eked out by linoleum.
Betty TrevorMrs. G. de Horne Vaizey
Above the felt we laid the linoleum, with more pitch and tar to stick it.
A Floating HomeCyril Ionides
linoleum
- a sheet material made of hessian, jute, etc, coated under pressure and heat with a mixture of powdered cork, linseed oil, rosin, and pigment, used as a floor coveringOften shortened to: lino
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Word Origin
C19: from Latin līnum flax + oleum oil
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 linoleum
n.
1860, coined by English inventor Frederick Walton (1837-1928), from Latin linum "flax, linen" (see linen) + oleum "oil" (see oil (n.)). Originally, a preparation of solidified linseed oil used to coat canvas for making floor coverings; the word was applied to the flooring material itself after 1878. The Linoleum Manufacturing Company was formed 1864.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper