farthingale

English

A girl in a farthingale, 1659

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle French verdugale, from Spanish verdugado, from verdugo (rod).

Pronunciation

Noun

farthingale (plural farthingales)

  1. (historical) A hooped structure in cloth worn to extend the skirt of women's dresses; a hooped petticoat.
    • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in The Essayes, [], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount [], OCLC 946730821:
      women [] make trunk-sleeves of wyre and whale-bone bodies, backes of lathes, and stiffe bumbasted verdugals, and to the open-view of all men paint and embellish themselves with counterfeit and borrowed beauties [].
    • 2003, Alexander Chancellor, The Guardian, 3 May 2003:
      In Henry VIII's Great Hall, there were men in doublets and codpieces prancing up and down with women in farthingales.

Synonyms

Translations

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.