Buckram
//ˈbʌkɹəm// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A coarse cloth of cotton, linen or hemp, stiffened with size or glue, used in bookbinding to cover and protect the books, in garments to keep them in the form intended, and for wrappers to cover merchandise. uncountable, usually
"Four rogues in buckram let drive at me—"
- 2 A plant, Allium ursinum, also called ramson, wild garlic, or bear garlic.
- 3 a coarse cotton fabric stiffened with glue; used in bookbinding and to stiffen clothing wordnet
- 4 A crab that has just molted; a papershell. uncountable, usually
Verb
- 1 To stiffen with or as if with buckram. transitive
- 2 stiffen with or as with buckram wordnet
Adjective
- 1 rigidly formal wordnet
Example
More examples"The binding is white buckram, with dark green cloth sides richly gilt."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English bukeram (“fine linen”), from Anglo-Norman bokeram, from Old French boquerant, bougherant (“fine cloth”), bougueran, probably ultimately from Bokhara, a city in southeastern Uzbekistan.
Etymology 2
Perhaps a back-formation from earlier buckrams, from buck + ramps, ramsh (“wild garlic, ramson”). Compare Danish ramsløg (“ramson”), Swedish ramslök (“bear garlic, ramson”).
Related phrases
More for "buckram"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.