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fustian

noun
/ˈfʌs.tɪ.ən/UK/ˈfʌs.t͡ʃən/US

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English fustian (“type of fabric, probably made from cotton, flax, or wool; piece of fustian spread over a bed or mattress”) [and other forms], from Old French fustaine, fustaigne (modern French futaine), from Medieval Latin fūstāneum, from (pannus) fūstāneus or (tela) fūstānea, of disputed origin. Sense 3 (“inflated, pompous, or pretentious speech or writing”) is possibly from the fact that the fabric was sometimes used to make cushion- and pillowcases, thus suggesting that the speech or writing is “padded” or “stuffed”; compare bombast. The relationship between sense 4 (“hot drink made of a mixture of alcoholic beverages with egg yolk, lemon, and spices”) and the fabric is unclear. The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. Cognates * Italian fustagno * Occitan fustani * Portuguese fustão * Spanish fustan

  1. derived from fūstāneum
  2. derived from fustaine
  3. inherited from fustian — “type of fabric, probably made from cotton, flax, or wool; piece of fustian spread over a bed or mattress”

Definitions

  1. Originally, a kind of coarse fabric made from cotton and flax

    Originally, a kind of coarse fabric made from cotton and flax; now, a kind of coarse twilled cotton, or cotton and linen, stuff with a short pile and often dyed a dull colour, which is chiefly prepared for menswear.

    • VVWhere's the Cooke, is ſupper ready, the houſe trim'd, ruſhes ſtrevv'd, cobvvebs ſvvept, the ſeruingmen in their nevv fuſtian, their vvhite ſtockings, and euery officer his vvedding garment on?
    • Fustian, of which I found only one entry before 1401, occurs frequently in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It appears to have been a ribbed cloth. […] On one occasion (1443) it is described as 'white ribbed fustian.'
    • His clothes were of fustian, and his boots hobnailed, yet in his progress he showed not the mud-accustomed bearing of hobnailed and fustained peasantry.

  2. A class of fabric including corduroy and velveteen.

    • Fustian originally referred to a large variety of textiles of linen-and-cotton blend; later it came to mean all-cotton textiles. Common varieties of the fancy fustians are corduroy, jean, pillow, thickset, velveret and velveteen.

  3. Inflated, pompous, or pretentious speech or writing

    Inflated, pompous, or pretentious speech or writing; bombast; also (archaic), incoherent or unintelligible speech or writing; gibberish, nonsense.

    • Monſieur Orenge, yond' Gallants obſerues vs; pr'y thee let's talke Fuſtian a little and gull 'hem: make 'hem beleeue vve are great Schollers.
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. Chiefly in rum fustian

      Chiefly in rum fustian: a hot drink made of a mixture of alcoholic beverages (as beer, gin, and sherry or white wine) with egg yolk, lemon, and spices.

      • RUMFUSTIAN. The yolks of twelve eggs, one quart of strong beer, one bottle of white wine, half a pint of gin, a grated nutmeg, the juice from the peeling of a lemon, a small quantity of cinnamon, and sufficient sugar to sweeten it;[…]

    2. Made out of fustian (noun sense 1).

      • I was never ſo ſplenetique, when I was moſt dumpiſh, but I could ſmile at a friſe jeſt, when the good man would be pleaſurable, and laugh at fuſtion earneſt, when the merry man would be ſurly.
      • For my clothes being but a threed-bare fuſtian caſe vvere ſo meane (my cloake onely excepted) that the Boores could not haue made an ordinary ſupper vvith the mony for vvᶜʰ they ſhould haue ſold them; […]
      • About a fortnight since, as I was diverting myself with a pennyworth of walnuts at the Temple-gate, a lively young fellow in a fustian jacket shot by me, beckoned a coach, and told the coachman he wanted to go as far as Chelsea.

    3. Of a person, or their speech or writing

      Of a person, or their speech or writing: using inflated, pompous, or pretentious language; bombastic; grandiloquent; also (obsolete) using incoherent or unintelligible language.

      • Monélle, a roguiſh or fustian word, a word in pedlers French, ſignifying wenches, ſtrumpets or whores.
      • Svb[tle]. VVhy, you muſt entertaine him. Fac[e]. VVhat'll you doe / VVith theſe the vvhile? Svb. VVhy, haue 'hem vp, and ſhew 'hem / Some Fuſtian Booke, or the Darke Glaſſe.
      • VVherein by the way let me pray thee to obſerue that I haue alſo inſerted […] euen of the fuſtian termes, vſed by too many vvho ſtudy rather to bee heard ſpeake, than to vnderſtand themſelues.

    4. Imaginary

      Imaginary; invented.

      • [T]he Scene, Gargaphie: vvhich I doe vehemently ſuſpect for ſome fuſtian countrie, but let that vaniſh.

    5. Useless

      Useless; worthless.

      • Hard to make ought of that is nakid nought; / This fustiane maistres and this giggisse gase, / Wonder is to wryte what wrenchis she wrowght, / To face out her foly with a midsomer mase; […]
      • For Gods ſake thruſt him down ſtaires, I cannot indure ſuch a fuſtian raſcall.

The neighborhood

Derived

fustianed, fustianism, fustianist, fustianize

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for fustian. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA