Crinoline
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A stiff fabric made from cotton and horsehair. countable, uncountable
- 2 a stiff coarse fabric used to stiffen hats or clothing wordnet
- 3 A stiff petticoat made from this fabric. countable, uncountable
"These standards have not just been oppressive but deadly. In the nineteenth century, stiff crinoline petticoats puffed out skirts so far that the cheap materials often brushed against open flames and caught fire. This arbitrary convention of dress caused three thousand women to be burned alive."
- 4 a full stiff petticoat made of crinoline fabric wordnet
- 5 A skirt stiffened with hoops. countable, uncountable
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 a skirt stiffened with hoops wordnet
- 7 Any of the hoops making up the framework used to support cladding over a boiler. countable, uncountable
- 8 Netting placed around ships to guard against torpedoes. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"These standards have not just been oppressive but deadly. In the nineteenth century, stiff crinoline petticoats puffed out skirts so far that the cheap materials often brushed against open flames and caught fire. This arbitrary convention of dress caused three thousand women to be burned alive."
Etymology
Borrowed from French crinoline.
More for "crinoline"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.