fustian, n. and a.
(ˈfʌstɪən)
Forms: 3 fustane, 4–5 fustain, 4 fustayn, 4–6 fustiane, -yan(e, fusten(e, (5 fustien, fustyn, 6 fustin, fuschain, fustheyn, fushtyayne, fustyam, fusteen, fosten, Sc. fustean), 5–7 fustion, -yon, 4– fustian.
[a. OF. fustaigne, -aine, mod.F. futaine fem. = Pr. fustani, Sp. fustan, Pg. fustão, It. fustagno, repr. med.L. (pannus) fustāneus, (tela) fustānea; conjecturally derived from Fostat, the name of a suburb of Cairo where cloth was manufactured.]
A. n.
1. Formerly, a kind of coarse cloth made of cotton and flax. Now, a thick, twilled, cotton cloth with a short pile or nap, usually dyed of an olive, leaden, or other dark colour.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 163 Ðe meshakele of medeme fustane [or perh. fustani]. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 75 Of fustyan he wered a gepoun. c 1450 Merlin 279 His clothinge was blakke fustyan with bendes on the sleues. 1502 Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 16, ij yerdes of white fustyan for sokkes for the Quene. 1558 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1835) 162, ij blanketts of fustheyn. 1586 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. i. 49 Where's the Cooke..the seruingmen in their new fustian. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. ii. xxix. 149 Commonly I used..some pieces of fustions, cutting them of two fingers breadth. 1696 J. F. Merchant's Ware-ho. 8 Dimetty..which is called Pillus Fustian, is of great use to put Feathers in for Pillows. 1860 All Year Round No. 44. 418 Fustian and corduroy that was neither sound nor fragrant. |
† b. A blanket made of this material.
Obs.| 1424 E.E. Wills (1882) 56, I wull he haue to þe oone bed a peyre fustyans. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 922 Fustian and shetis clene by sight and sans ye tast. 1494 Househ. Ord. (1790) 121 Then shall the yeoman of the stuffe take a fustian..& caste it upon the bedd..& the sheete likewise..then lay on the other sheete..then lay on the over fustian above. 1500 Inv. in Ann. Reg. (1768) 134 A paire of old Fustians. |
† c. fustian of Naples. Also 6
fustian in naples or
aplis,
fustyan(e aples or fustian n)apes,
fwstinaples,
fustianapes,
fustniapes, 6–7
fustian anapes or
fustian an apes.
App. a kind of cotton velvet.
Cf. a-napes.
Obs.| 1465 Rolls of Parlt. V. 505 Fustian, bustian, nor fustian of Napuls. 1534 in Eng. Ch. Furniture (Peacock 1866) 207 A new cusshion of fustian in naples. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. v. iii. (ed. 7) 533 Fustianapes of Vellures, and of Wool, Bayes, Silke, Parchment lace, Sarcenet and Inkle. 1575, 1611, a 1627 [see a-napes]. |
2. fig. Inflated, turgid, or inappropriately lofty language; speech or writing composed of high-sounding words and phrases; bombast, rant; in early use also
† jargon, made-up language, gibberish. For the development of sense
cf. bombast.
| c 1590 Marlowe Faust. iv. 76 Wag. Let thy left eye be diametarily fixed upon my right heel, with quasi vestigiis nostris insistere. Clown. God forgive me, he speaks Dutch fustian. 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of his Humour iii. i, Prithee let's talk fustian a little, and gull them. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. iii. ii. (1651) 316 If he can..wear his clothes in fashion..talk big fustian. 1651 Cleveland Poems 41 With humble service, and such other Fustian. 1681 Dryden Sp. Friar Ded., I am much deceiv'd if this be not abominable fustian, that is, thoughts and words ill sorted, and without the least relation to each other. 1735 Pope Prol. Sat. 187 And he, whose fustian's so sublimely bad, It is not Poetry, but prose run mad. a 1797 H. Walpole Mem. Geo. III (1848) I. viii. 111 Glover..uttered a speech in most heroic fustian. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. v. (1869) 123 They flounder about between fustian in expression, and bathos in sentiment. 1884 Fortn. Rev. June 838 It was all nonsense, and the basest kind of political fustian. |
b. occas. Clap-trap.
| 1880 Disraeli Endym. xci, Sensible Englishmen..looked upon the whole exhibition as fustian. |
3. (See
quot.)
| 1832 Hone Year Bk. 62 Rum fustian is a ‘night-cap’, made precisely in the same way [as egg-flip]. |
4. Comb., as
fustian-maker;
fustian-clad,
fustian-suited adjs. Also
fustian-cutting, the action or process of cutting the surface-threads of weft of fustian; so
fustian-cutter, one who performs this;
† fustian-man, a fustian-maker;
fustian-picker, a workman who dresses fustian.
| 1876 C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. 54 *Fustian clad men. |
| 1884 Chesh. Gloss., *Fustian cutter, one who finishes off fustian by cutting it to a sort of velvetty pile. |
| 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xvii, Where is your sister? Gone *fustian-cutting. |
| 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 3987/4 Robert Dunn, of Bolton in Le Moors..*Fustian-maker. |
| 1720 Ibid. No. 5909/8 William Nabbs, late of Hallifax, *Fustianman. |
| 1865 Public Opinion 21 Jan. 55/1 If the makers of lucifer-matches are not henceforth to be poisoned..nor *fustian-pickers to be rendered deformed by bad conditions of work. |
| 1891 Daily News 26 Dec. 5/5 A gardener..assisted by one of his *fustian-suited fellows, is staking and pruning a tree. |
B. adj. 1. [
attrib. use of the
n.] Made of fustian.
| 1537 Bury Wills (Camden) 128 Item I geve to Wylliam Bolo{supr} my fosten doblett. 1554 Ibid. 144 A paier of fustian blankets. 1611 Coryat Crudities 465 For my clothes being but a threadbare fustian case were so meane. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 498 ¶3 A lively young fellow in a fustian jacket. 1753 Smollett Ct. Fathom (1781) 63/2 For all my bit of a fustian frock..I have more dust in my fob, than all these powdered sparks put together. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1828) IV. 538 The plain fustian jacket used by English sportsmen. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. xxii, He wore a plain fustian cloak. |
| fig. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 39 Botching in such frize iestes vppon fustion earnest. 1592 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 158, I could smile at a frise jest when the good man would be pleasurable and laugh at fustion earnest when the merry man would be surly. 1885 E. W. Lightner in Harper's Mag. Mar. 533/1 To gain some individuality which will remove the impression that it is a fustian counter⁓part of a genuine and admirable fabric. |
b. dial. (See
quot., and
cf. fustiany.)
| 1750 W. Ellis Mod. Husb. III. i. 66 There are four several sorts [of Marl], viz.—the Fustian, the Cowshit, the Black⁓steel, and the Shale: The Fustian Sort is an Earth composed of a fat Loam and Sand, of a reddish Colour. |
2. Of language: Of the nature of fustian; ridiculously lofty in expression; bombastic, high-flown, inflated, pompous.
† Also, belonging to cant or made-up jargon.
| 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier (1871) 37 Then comes he out..with his fustian eloquence. 1598 Florio, Monélle, a roguish or fustian word, a word in pedlers French, signifying wenches. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. iv. ii, Haue 'hem vp, and shew 'hem Some fustian booke, or the darke glasse. 1623 Cockeram Premon., The fustian termes, vsed by too many who study rather to bee heard speake, than to vnderstand themselves. 1660 Howell Lex. Tetragl., Fustian Language, Barra⁓goüin; la lingua furbesca; Jerigon{cced}a. 1670 Cotton Espernon ii. vii. 329 The Queen..writ a Letter to the Duke..in a fustian style. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. vii. 482 Notwithstanding the fustian eulogiums bestowed upon them by the Catholic Missionaries. 1838–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. II. v. ii. §73. 229 Pope censures the haste, negligence and fustian language of Chapman. 1884 J. Sharman Hist. Swearing ii. 26 The fustian ornament of somewhat spirited talk. |
† b. Hence of a writer or speaker.
Obs.| [1597: see 3.] 1693 Dryden Persius v. 9 Let Fustian Poets with their Stuff be gone. 1782 J. Warton Ess. Pope II. x. 149 note, Ridiculing the false pomp of fustian writers. |
† c. fustian fume: a great display of anger. So
fustian anger.
Obs.| 1553 Bale Vocacyon 30 b, The Treasurer, beynge in hys fustene fumes, stoughtely demaunded a determinate answere. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 46 With fuming fustian anger. 1626 L. Owen Spec. Jesuit. (1629) 3 Vpon this the Monke in a Spanish fustian-fume, cryed out. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iv. 173 The Chanter netled heard in fustian fume Rejoyning Girard thus sawcily presume. |
3. Worthless, sorry, pretentious.
| 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 1206 This fustian maistres and this giggishe gase. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 203 Thrust him downe stayres, I cannot endure such a Fustian Rascall. 1600 Dr. Dodypoll i. i. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 103 A fustie Potticarie ever at hand with his fustian drugges. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iii. 108 Now what a selfe Losungeous fellow hath this fustian companion proved. 1861 K. H. Digby Chapel St. John (1863) 325 The fustian rascal and his poor lack-linen mate. |
† b. ‘Made up’, imaginary.
Obs.| 1600 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. (1692) Induction, The scene Gargaphie; which I do vehemently suspect for some fustian country. |
† 4. Sc. ? Coarse, plain, homely.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 43 Thai hed na breyd bot ry caikis and fustean skonnis maid of flour. |
Hence
ˈfustianed a., clothed in fustian;
ˈfustianist, one who writes fustian;
ˈfustianize v. intr., to write fustian;
ˈfustiany a. dial. (see
quot., and
cf. fustian B. 1 b).
| 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. viii, Preferring the gay rankness of Apuleius, Arnobius, or any modern Fustianist, before the native Latinisms of Cicero. 1830 O. W. Holmes Poet's Lot 4 To get a ring, or some such thing, And fustianize upon it. 1849 Alb. Smith Pottleton Leg. 62 The fustianed keeper winked at the gorgeous Roman warrior. 1883 T. Hardy Wessex Tales in Longm. Mag. I. 572 Hob⁓nailed and fustianed peasantry. 1884 Chesh. Gloss., Fustiany, applied to sand with a good deal of earth (the colour of fustian) in it, that prevents its being used for mortar. |