Worsted
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Yarn made from long strands of wool. countable, uncountable
"An old ſet-ſtitch’d chair, valanced and fringed around with party-colour’d worſted bobs, ſtood at the bed’s head, oppoſite to the ſide where my father’s head reclined."
- 2 a woolen fabric with a hard textured surface and no nap; woven of worsted yarns wordnet
- 3 The fine, smooth fabric made from such wool yarn. countable, uncountable
"[T]he undertaker’s wife opened a side door, and pushed Oliver down a steep flight of stairs into a stone cell, damp and dark, forming the ante-room to the coal-cellar, and denominated “the kitchen,” wherein sat a slatternly girl in shoes down at heel, and blue worsted stockings very much out of repair."
- 4 a tightly twisted woolen yarn spun from long-staple wool wordnet
- 1 simple past and past participle of worst form-of, participle, past
- 1 Defeated, overcome.
"The worsted army fled in disarray."
Example
More examples"An old ſet-ſtitch’d chair, valanced and fringed around with party-colour’d worſted bobs, ſtood at the bed’s head, oppoſite to the ſide where my father’s head reclined."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English worstede, worsted, from Worstede (now Worstead; Old English *Wurϸestede), a town in Norfolk, England.
Participle adjective of the verb worst.
Related phrases
More for "worsted"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.