Farthingale

//ˈfɑːðɪŋɡeɪl// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A hooped structure in cloth worn to extend the skirt of women's dresses; a hooped petticoat. historical

    "women […] make trunk-sleeves of wyre and whale-bone bodies, backes of lathes, and stiffe bumbasted verdugals, and to the open-view of all men paint and embellish themselves with counterfeit and borrowed beauties[…]."

  2. 2
    a hoop worn beneath a skirt to extend it horizontally; worn by European women in the 16th and 17th centuries wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
hoop skirthoop skirt

Example

More examples

"women […] make trunk-sleeves of wyre and whale-bone bodies, backes of lathes, and stiffe bumbasted verdugals, and to the open-view of all men paint and embellish themselves with counterfeit and borrowed beauties[…]."

Etymology

Hobson-Jobson of earlier forms vardingale, etc., borrowed from Middle French verdugale, from Spanish verdugado, from verdugo (“rod”).

Related phrases

farthingale chair

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.