crewel

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“
In those crowded treasure chests it was possible there might be found skeins of crewel, and even working patterns which some hopeful instinct had prompted her to preserve While the Puritan mother was scheming to add embroidery to her occupations, she did not forget to train each small maid of the family to the use of the needle.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Loosely twisted worsted yarn used for fancywork and embroidery.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • So I gave her the recipe for the crewel lye, and she took it back to use the caustic on the yarn. —  Question Quest
  • About this time "crewel" was much in vogue. —  Quilts Their Story and How to Make Them
  • Some of this "crewel" work, done in the seventeenth century, is described by M. Jourdain in "English Secular Embroidery": "These hangings, bed curtains, quilts, and valances are of linen or a mixture of cotton and linen, and one type is embroidered with bold, freely designed patterns in worsted. —  Quilts Their Story and How to Make Them
  • I should carry her evening shoes in a pretty crewel-worked bag. —  Eliza
  • Velvet stools were here and there about the room, and cushions, some covered with velvet, some with crewel-work, were to be seen in profusion. —  All's Well Alice's Victory
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English crule.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Perhaps for *clewel (= Dutch klevel = German knäuel, a clue), diminutive of clew, a ball of thread: see clue, clew.
 

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/ˈkruɛl/
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