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fustian

 
American Heritage Dictionary:

fus·tian

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(fŭs'chən) pronunciation
n.
    1. A coarse sturdy cloth made of cotton and flax.
    2. Any of several thick twilled cotton fabrics, such as corduroy, having a short nap.
  2. Pretentious speech or writing; pompous language.
adj.
  1. Made of or as if of fustian: "[He] disliked the heavy, fustian ... and brocaded decor of Soviet officialdom" (Frederick Forsyth).
  2. 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.]


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Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms:

fustian

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fustian, pretentiously inflated or pompous language. See also bombast, rodomontade.

Obscure Words:

fustian

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pretentious and banal (writing or speech)
Word Tutor:

fustian

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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A thick cotton cloth with a short nap such as corduroy. Also: Pompous or pretentious talking or writing.

pronunciation They were looking for some fustian such as velveteen to make the intricate costumes.

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Random House Word Menu:

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Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary:

fustian

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  See crossword solutions for the clue Fustian.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Fustian

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For the protagonist of a classic German legend, see Faust.
For the British airborne mission in 1943, see Operation Fustian.
Look up fustian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Fustian (also called bombast) is a term for a variety of heavy woven, mostly cotton fabrics, chiefly prepared for menswear. It is also used to refer to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, from at least the time of Shakespeare. This literary use is because the cloth type was often used as padding, hence, the purposeless words are 'bombast'.

Contents

History and use

It embraces plain twilled cloth known as jean, and cut fabrics similar to velvet, known as velveteen, moleskin, corduroy etc. The original medieval fustian was a stout but respectable cloth with a cotton weft and a linen warp, possibly derived from El-Fustat, the name of a suburb of Cairo where cloth was manufactured.[1][2] The term seems to have quickly become less precise, and was applied to a coarse cloth made of wool and linen, and in the reign of Edward III of England, the name was given to a woolen fabric. By the early 20th century, fustians were usually of cotton dyed various colors.

In a petition to Parliament during the reign of Mary I, "fustian of Naples" is mentioned. In the 13th and 14th centuries priests' robes and women's dresses were made of fustian, but though dresses are still made from some kinds, the chief use is for labourers' clothes.

Political significance

Fustian was worn by workers during the 19th century. As such, radical elements of the British working class chose to wear fustian jackets as a symbol of their class allegiance. This was especially marked during the Chartist era. The historian Paul Pickering has called the wearing of fustian "a statement of class without words."[3]

Notes

  1. ^ "fustian". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989.
  2. ^ Donald King in: Jonathan Alexander & Paul Binski (eds), Age of Chivalry, Art in Plantagenet England, 1200-1400, p. 157, Royal Academy/Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London 1987
  3. ^ See Paul A. Pickering, "Class Without Words: Symbolic Communication in the Chartist Movement"

References

  • The Online Etymology Dictionary
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
  • Pickering, Paul, A., "Class Without Words: Symbolic Communication in the Chartist Movement", Past and Present, cxii, August 1986, 144-162.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Translations:

Fustian

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - olmerdug, bombast, ordgyderi
adj. - bombastisk

Nederlands (Dutch)
fustein (soort stof), pretentieuze stijl, van fustein, pretentieus

Français (French)
n. - futaine
adj. - de futaine, pompeux, grandiloquent, sans valeur

Deutsch (German)
n. - bombastische Rede, Barchent (Stoff)
adj. - schwülstig, aus Barchent

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ύφασμα κοτλέ ή λινοβάμβακο
adj. - στομφώδης

Italiano (Italian)
fustagno, di fustagno, ampolloso

Português (Portuguese)
n. - fustão (m) (tecido), linguagem (f) empolada
adj. - de fustão, empolado (linguagem)

Русский (Russian)
надутый, напыщенный, бумазея

Español (Spanish)
n. - fustán, rimbombancia, pomposidad
adj. - de fustán, pomposo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - manchester(tyg), svulst
adj. - manchester-, svulstig

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
粗斜条棉布, 浮夸, 夸大的话, 粗斜条棉布的, 夸大的, 夸饰的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 粗斜條棉布, 浮誇, 誇大的話
adj. - 粗斜條棉布的, 誇大的, 誇飾的

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 성기게 짠 두꺼운 무명(퍼스티언 천), 과장한 말
adj. - 퍼스티언 천의 , 시시한, 지나친 , 과장한

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ファスチアン, 大げさなことば
adj. - ファスチアンの, 大げさな

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الفستيان , كلام طنان (صفه) فستياني , طنان‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אריג גס, כותנה, מליצות נבובות‬
adj. - ‮עשוי מאריג זה, מנופחים (דיבורים), חסר-ערך‬

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American Heritage Dictionary. 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.  Read more
Roget's Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Copyright © Chris Baldick 2001, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd.  Read more
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Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary. Collins Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary © Anne Bradford, 1986, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008 HarperCollins Publishers All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Fustian.  Read more
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