Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various sturdy cotton fabrics of plain weave, used especially for sheets.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Cotton cloth of different kinds finely made and finished for wearing-apparel, the term being used variously at different times and places. A very fine and soft uncolored cloth made in India; also, any imitation of it made in Europe. The India muslin is known by different names, according to its place of manufacture and its fineness and beauty. See
mull . - n. A material somewhat stouter than India muslin, used for women's dresses, plain or printed with colored patterns, or having a slight dotted pattern woven in the stuff. Also jaconet and organdie, according to its fineness.
- n. In some parts of the United States, cotton cloth used for shirts, other articles of wearing-apparel, bedding, etc.
- n. One of several different moths: a collectors' name. A bombycid moth, as the round-winged muslin, Nudaria senex. The pale muslin is N. mundana.
- n. Muslin with figures printed in color on it.
- Made of muslin: as, a muslin dress.
- n. A general term for a vessel's Canvas.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of several varieties of thin cotton cloth.
- n. Fabric made of cotton, flax (linen), hemp, or silk, finely or coarsely woven.
- n. A term used for a wide variety of tightly-woven thin fabrics, especially those used for bedlinen. Woven cotton or linen fabrics, especially when used for items other than garments.
- n. A dressmaker's pattern made from inexpensive cloth for fitting.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A thin cotton, white, dyed, or printed. The name is also applied to coarser and heavier cotton goods. In sheeting,
muslin is not as finely woven aspercale .
WordNet 3.0
- n. plain-woven cotton fabric
Etymologies
- French mousseline, from Italian mussolina, from Mussolo, Mosul, Iraq, from Arabic (al-)Mawṣil, from mawṣil, place of joining, from waṣala, to join; see wṣl in Semitic roots.
Examples
“This slip is 100 percent cotton, thin muslin, and is surprisingly not hot.”
“She had taken the lace and muslin from the basket, possibly to settle her nerves and wits, and was sewing upon it.”
“To the 3x size sewer: take the pattern I recommended here and make it in muslin, m 90 "or 50" wide piece, double, and if it works you know the pattern fits.”
“A scarf of thin muslin or a silk veil wound round the crown of a sun-helmet or hat and falling down behind as a shade.”
“Michael C criticizes that a lot of the others are still working in muslin and have nothing for their model to try on, but of course he's well on his way to a finished look, albeit it is a ball gown that has a train which dusts the floor very nicely.”
The Huffington Post: Holly Cara Price: Rubbernecking: Project Runway, Episode 9 "Race to the Finish"
“I tied it in muslin and let it drain for about an hr.”
“To make things easier, I have an idea of wearing a basic and plain muslin A-line dress, or skirt-blouse combination -- or any non-iron, loosely flowing garment that does not cling or pinch, making movement easier in the myriad of tasks that must be done.”
“The fabric shop she gets the plain muslin from is on Mesones two doors from Bonanza -- Yulma, she thinks the store's name is.”
“Just before he finished, he covered her polished nakedness in muslin and lace, cutting and sewing the sleeves and the hem and the ruffs.”
“Ieven wrote to Jennifer Rose and told her that I had come around to her view, the thin muslin colorful pedal pusher length pants that are highly acceptable here are just as cool and comfy.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘muslin’.
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Of Arabic Origin
Arabic loanwords in English are words acquired directly from Arabic or else indirectly by passing from Arabic into other languages and then into English. Most entered one or more of the Romance lan...
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorism, algorithm, alidade and 181 more...
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The Bindery
A list of bookbinding terms and phrases, for assembling new or repairing/reassembling old books.
perfect binding, animal glue, spine, textblock, polyvinyl acetate, double-fan adhesi..., board, backing, rounding, bone, book cloth, pasteboard and 260 more...
trivet Jeopardy taught me last night that muslin is named for Mosul, Iraq. (Backed up by the wiki.) Jan 27, 2009
bilby Beautifully remembered here. Jan 20, 2009