Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A soft woven cloth of wool or a blend of wool and cotton or synthetics.
- n. Outer clothing, especially trousers, made of this cloth.
- n. Underclothing made of this cloth.
- n. Flannelette.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A warm loosely woven woolen stuff used especially for undergarments, bed-covering, etc., but also to some extent for outer garments, in styles adapted for that purpose. Some flannels have both sides alike; others have a long nap on one side and none on the other.
- n. A warming drink; hot gin and beer seasoned with nutmeg, sugar, etc.
- n. A person of homely or uncouth dress, exterior, or manners.
- Made of flannel; consisting of flannel: as, flannel clothing.
Wiktionary
- n. uncountable A soft cloth material woven from wool, possibly combined with cotton or synthetic fibers.
- n. New Zealand, UK A washcloth.
- adj. made of flannel
- v. transitive to rub with a flannel
- v. to flatter; suck up to
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A soft, nappy, woolen cloth, of loose texture.
- n. a cotton fabric with a thick nap on one side, resembling flannel{1}; it is used, e. g. for underwear or sheets; also called
flanellette . - n. garments made of flannel, especially underwear.
- n. Brit. a washcloth.
- n. Brit. informal humbug; nonsensical or evasive talk.
- n. Brit. informal insincere flattery or praise.
WordNet 3.0
- n. bath linen consisting of a piece of cloth used to wash the face and body
- n. a soft light woolen fabric; used for clothing
- n. (usually in the plural) trousers made of flannel or gabardine or tweed or white cloth
Etymologies
- Middle English flaunneol, from Anglo-Norman flanelle (cf. Jersiais flianné), diminutive of Old French flaine, floene 'coarse wool', from Gaulish vlanā ‘wool’ (cf. Welsh gwlân, Breton gloan). More at wool. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, a kind of woolen cloth or garment, perhaps variant of flanyn, sackcloth, probably from Old French flaine, a kind of coarse wool. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“If he did not already wear flannel waistcoats, let it be winter or summer, I should recommend him immediately to do so: if it be winter, I should advise him also to take to _flannel_ drawers.”
“It has an independent drugstore; men in flannel browsing around the Power Center, which sells lawn mowers and chain saws; and four kinds of potato salad in the Piggly Wiggly.”
“You think Han Solo would look better in flannel cause he looks a little sissy in that vest.”
“If you're going to be a bunch of beards in flannel shirts like every other hipster group you should at least have some original stuff and come out swinging.”
“Across the street, a mysterious arm clad in flannel pulls the curtain aside to watch the girls go into the house.”
“A hot stone wrapped in Welsh flannel for the sick man's feet, a long and vigorous rub for chest and throat and ribs, down to the waist, with an ointment of goose-grease impregnated with mustard and other heat-giving herbs, and chest and throat then swathed in a strip of the same flannel, cool cloths on the dry forehead, and a hot draught of wine mulled with spices and borage and other febrifuge herbs.”
“The philosophers dressed themselves in flannel shirts, and built themselves a rough shelter in the Adirondacks.”
“There was suspicion in the gesture with which, when we were back in the drawing-room he picked up the flannel from the work-table.”
“The whole business – followed by highwaymen in flannel shirts and revolvers.”
“There were other loafers in flannel shirts, hitched up trousers and greasy felt or cabbage-tree hats, and there were two or three blacks of the demoralised type seen in coast townships.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘flannel’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Words For Novel (Part 3)
fibers, gypsy, polymer, schism, syphilitic garden..., holocaust, scrutinant, contemplate, aftermath, consequence, deadlock, impasse and 153 more...
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CCel
chattel, channel, kennel, duffel, tunnel, ginnel, fennel, stannel, flannel, scrannel, trunnel, waggel and 24 more...
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Colors/Patterns/Prints/Textures
fritillary, chartreuse, tortoise-shell, brindle, burnt orange, cerulean, amaranth, sandy, amber, mold, fungus, kiwi and 65 more...
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lala lala lala
the ell's have it
dishabille, pillow, marshmallow, quilt, cloud, silk, linen, flannel, recline, cuddle, lullaby, Llullaillaco and 15 more...
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window dressing
chemise, gossamer, tweed, pleat, fold, cuff, button, shirttails, ascot, cummerbund, velvet, silk and 104 more...
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Twitter faves
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
niglets, aw, flakey, shiznit, thatch, sexy, bummers, hotty, eargasms, ratchetry, weird, fab and 457 more... -
Beautiful Words
Any words that are pleasant to the ear.
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kat's words
ecumenical, cacophony, clatter, marimba, bamboo, saffron, slice, mercurial, pomegranate, cranky, slipshod, scritch and 511 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, F
felony, frolic, fend, fuselage, farthingale, freewheeling, frigorific, flummery, fancypants, felsitic, flagstone, flageolet and 295 more...
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Two years
Okay, I admit it. I made a list of words my daughter knew when she was two years old.
bat, baba, a, abalone, about, acorn, adrienne, after, again, airplane, alison, all and 694 more...
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librarygoblin's words
crystal, ghost, mist, snow, labyrinth, citadel, tomb, mystery, arcane, conundrum, echo, dynamo and 389 more...
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Rita's List of Words
preliminary, rudimentary, stance, conduit, locale, implicit, vicissitude, empirical, repository, apophthegm, apothegm, invariable and 431 more...
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today's word
copemate, quiddity, ere, maugre, argal, cultivar, exurb, spokesmodel, rollick, logy, cadastral, corpulent and 259 more...
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Fabrics
Woven, knit and tatted fabrics. Other kinds of cloth, such as tapa and chamois are not included.
shikii, shantung, cotton, linen, tweed, wool, velour, velvet, velveteen, gabardine, chenille, silk and 550 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for flannel.

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