Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A fine twilled fabric usually of silk and worsted or cotton, traditionally dyed black and used for mourning clothes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Raw cotton.
  • noun Originally, a stuff woven of silk and wool, made in England as early as the reign of Elizabeth; afterward, a stuff made of silk alone, but apparently always of one color, and inexpensive.
  • noun In modern usage, a stuff of which the warp is silk and the weft worsted. An imitation of it is made of cotton and worsted.
  • noun Also spelled bombazeen, bombasin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A twilled fabric for dresses, of which the warp is silk, and the weft worsted. Black bombazine has been much used for mourning garments.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fabric made from silk, wool or cotton dyed black

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a twilled fabric used for dresses; the warp is silk and the weft is worsted

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French bombasin, from Medieval Latin bambacīnum, cotton fabric, from bombax, bombac-, cotton, from Latin bombȳx, silk, silkworm, from Greek bombūx, silkworm.]

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Examples

  • Still, she had no idea what supersensuous material she could reasonably have demanded of her heroine (unless it were the mythic "bombazine" that Ernest used to talk about, in his ignorant efforts to describe female apparel), or what transcendental form of cape would have satisfied her imagination.

    The Daughters of Danaus Mona Caird

  • When Miss Amelia pronounced "bombazine" to Laddie our side cried, "Careful, Laddie, careful! you're out of your element!"

    Laddie: A True Blue Story 1913

  • When Miss Amelia pronounced "bombazine" to Laddie our side cried, "Careful, Laddie, careful! you're out of your element!"

    Laddie; a true blue story Gene Stratton-Porter 1893

  • The entire furniture-covering is made, we are privately informed, of "bombazine," and the explosion may be expected to be terrific.

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, April 15, 1893 Various 1876

  • Women in ‘full’ or ‘deep’ mourning wore dresses of black bombazine and mourning bonnets with long, thick, black crepe veils.

    The Truth About Grief Ruth Davis Konigsberg 2011

  • I pat whatever part of her I can feel beneath the heavy folds of crepe and bombazine.

    Excerpt: Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold 2009

  • Women in ‘full’ or ‘deep’ mourning wore dresses of black bombazine and mourning bonnets with long, thick, black crepe veils.

    The Truth About Grief Ruth Davis Konigsberg 2011

  • It was high-necked, long-sleeved black bombazine, probably laid aside when a recent widow had put off her mourning, and was loose where it should have been tight and tight where it should have been loose.

    Shameless KAREN ROBARDS 2010

  • It was high-necked, long-sleeved black bombazine, probably laid aside when a recent widow had put off her mourning, and was loose where it should have been tight and tight where it should have been loose.

    Shameless KAREN ROBARDS 2010

  • I will refrain from mothballing my bombazine away in the trunk just yet because there will be renewed interest in all things Gissing for sure and we can all say, yes we've always liked him, did you know he lived at 24 Prospect Park, Exeter, Devon?

    Did you know George Gissing lived at... 2008

Comments

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  • And you, my bombazine doll, the bullets may singe your skin and the mortars may fall.

    June 26, 2007

  • Highly flammable fabric, if I recall correctly. A lightweight, sometimes sheer fabric that was used to make women's shirtwaists around the turn of the 20th century. They were modern garments, with a tailored fit like men's shirts, but for women to wear in the workplace. They featured a gauzy fabric (like bombazine) for a feminine silhouette.

    Cool word!

    October 13, 2007

  • 'And then Mrs. Fitz~Adam reappeared in Cranford, "As bold as a lion", Miss Pole said, a well~to~do widow, dressed in rustling black silk so soon after her husbands death that poor Miss Jenkins was justified in the remark she made, that "bombazine would have shown a deeper sense of her loss".'

    ~from Cranford, by Mrs. Gaskell, 1892

    I feel oddly compelled to address a select and unfavorable few as Bombazines now... . .

    October 24, 2008