Definitions

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

  • noun A light thin fabric, generally cotton or rayon, with a crinkled surface and a usually striped pattern.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A thin linen fabric, usually imported from the East Indies, though sometimes imitated in Europe.

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

  • noun A light fabric, originally made in the East Indies, of silk and linen, usually having alternating stripes, and a slightly craped or puckered surface; also, a cotton fabric of similar appearance.

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

  • noun A thin, all-cotton fabric, commonly striped, used to make clothing for summer wear.
  • noun countable An article made from such fabric.

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

  • noun a light puckered fabric (usually striped)

Etymologies

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

[Hindi śīrśakkar, sīrsakar and Urdu šīršakar, milk and sugar, a kind of silk cloth, both from Persian šīr-o-šakar : šīr, milk (from Middle Persian) + o, and (from Middle Persian u, from Old Persian utā) + šakar, sugar (from Sanskrit śarkarā, the fabric being so called from the resemblance of its smooth and rough stripes to the smooth surface of milk and bumpy texture of sugar).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hindi शीर - शक्कर (śīr-śakkar), from Persian شیر و شکر (shir-o shekar), meaning 'milk and sugar'.

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Examples

  • By the way, do you know the derivation of the word seersucker?

    Wake Up, Sir! Jonathan Ames 2004

  • It’s a whole feature in the American Express magazine Departures about how cool seersucker is this season.

    Dallas Blog, Daily News, Dallas Politics, Opinion, and Commentary FrontBurner Blog D Magazine » Blog Archive » RE: BEST OF BIG D FASHION 2005

  • Chemically produced plisse is less permanent than real seersucker, which is produced by weaving.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • Chemically produced plisse is less permanent than real seersucker, which is produced by weaving.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • Chemically produced plisse is less permanent than real seersucker, which is produced by weaving.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • Chemically produced plisse is less permanent than real seersucker, which is produced by weaving.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • (Oxford English Dictionary) [6.1] The Oxford English Dictionary defines "seersucker" as "a thin linen, or sometimes cotton, fabric, striped and with a crimped or puckered surface, of Indian manufacture."

    Inventory of Robert Carter's Estate, November [1733] 1733

  • To a crowd dressed in colorful linen and seersucker finery—and plenty of fascinators—Hugh Jackman introduced the fourth annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic on Governors Island with a rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

    Horseplay for Haiti Jen Wieczner 2011

  • Mann, wearing a seersucker suit with an open-collar shirt, his hair gray and unruly, was sitting in a deep, upholstered armchair in his study.

    The 7 Glenn Beck 2011

  • Try this: a navy straight skirt that grazes the knee, worn with a fitted seersucker or madras blazer and a sleeveless ruffled or v-neck blouse in a bold color—shocking pink, orange or red.

    Ask Teri Teri Agins 2011

Comments

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  • "light puckered fabric" also sounds naughty but ain't

    May 20, 2009

  • Like crepe, if you iron it with a too-hot iron, you will sear the sucker right out of it. Or so my mother told me. As one friend told me, the ironing basket is where she puts clothes she will never wear again.

    July 21, 2015