n.
- A coarse sturdy cloth made of cotton and flax.
- Any of several thick twilled cotton fabrics, such as corduroy, having a short nap.
- Pretentious speech or writing; pompous language.
- Made of or as if of fustian: "[He] disliked the heavy, fustian ... and brocaded decor of Soviet officialdom" (Frederick Forsyth).
- Pompous, bombastic, and ranting: "Yossarian was unmoved by the fustian charade of the burial ceremony" (Joseph Heller).
[Middle English, from Old French fustaigne, from Medieval Latin fūstānum, fūstiānum, possibly from Latin fūstis, wooden stick, club (translation of Greek xulinos, wood-linen, cotton) and or from El Fostat (El Fustat), a section of Cairo, Egypt.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
