A coarse, woven fabric of wool and cotton or of wool and linen.
[Middle English linsiwolsie : alteration of linen, linen; see linen + wolle, wool; see wool.]
linsey-woolsey
Dictionary:
lin·sey-wool·sey (lĭn'zē-wʊl'zē)  |
| Wordsmith Words: linsey-woolsey |
(LIN-zee WOOL-zee)
noun
1. A strong, coarse fabric of wool and cotton or wool and linen.
2. An incongruous mix.
Etymology
From Middle English linsey (linen, or from Lindsey, a village in Suffolk, UK) + woolsey (a rhyming compound of wool)
-woolsey
"This is no linsey-woolsey, tawdry romance: rather, it is the credible story of two people who must be together, whatever the enormous costs to them and those they love." — Valerie Ryan; An Affair To Remember; The Seattle Times; Jan 2, 2000.
| WordNet: linsey-woolsey |
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
a rough fabric of linen warp and wool or cotton woof
| Wikipedia: Linsey-woolsey |
Linsey-woolsey (less often, woolsey-linsey or in Scottish English, wincey) is a coarse twill or plain-woven fabric woven with a linen warp and a woollen weft. Similar fabrics woven with a cotton warp and woollen weft in Colonial America were also called linsey-woolsey or wincey.[1][2] The name derives form a combination of linen and woollen. This textile has been known since ancient times; the Bible twice explicitly bans Jews from wearing it.[3]
Contents |
History
The coarse fabric called stuff woven at Kidderminster from the 17th century, originally a wool fabric, may have been of linsey-woolsey construction later on.[4] Linsey-woolsey was an important fabric in the Colonial America due to the relative scarcity of wool in the colonies.[2] Many sources[5] say it was used for whole-cloth quilts, and when parts of the quilt wore out the remains would be cut up and pieced into patchwork quilts. Some sources dispute this[6] and say that the material was too rough and would have been used instead for clothing and occasionally for light blankets. It was also used as a ground fabric for needlepoint.
Linsey-woolsey was valued for its warmth, durability, and cheapness, but not for its looks. In her autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet Jacobs writes, "I have a vivid recollection of the linsey-woolsey dress given to me every winter by Mrs. Flint. How I hated it! It was one of the badges of slavery." Lucy Maud Montgomery uses the term "wincey" six times in Anne of Green Gables[7]: "a very ugly dress of yellowish gray wincey".
Linsey-woolsey continues to be woven today in small quantities for historical recreation and Colonial period decorating uses.
Linsey-woolsey is also sometimes used to refer to 18th century woven coverlets or bed coverings made with a linen warp and woollen weft. The term is sometimes incorrectly applied to glazed textiles.[8]
See also
Notes
- ^ American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, cited at FreeDictionary.com, retrieved 22 June 2007, and Random House Dictionary, via [1] retrieved 25 June 2007
- ^ a b Baumgarten, Linda: What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America, Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN 0300095805, page 96
- ^ "A garment of a Shaatnez mixture shall not come upon you" (Leviticus 19:19); "Do not wear Shaatnez - wool and linen together" (Deuteronomy 22:11).
- ^ See stuff (cloth).
- ^ See Linsey-Woolsey at Quilt.com, retrieved 22 June 2007
- ^ See for example Historic Textile Research & Articles, retrieved 22 June 2007
- ^ Random House Dictionary, via [2] retrieved 25 June 2007
- ^ Linsey-woolsey compared to glazed fabrics in antique quits
References and further reading
- Baumgarten, Linda: What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America, Yale University Press, 2002, ISBN 0300095805
- Tozer, Jane and Sarah Levitt, Fabric of Society: A Century of People and their Clothes 1770-1870, Laura Ashley Press, ISBN 0950891304
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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 | 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 |
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| Wordsmith Words. © 2009 Wordsmith.org. All rights reserved. Read more |
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