linsey-woolsey

[ lin-zee-wool-zee ]

noun

, plural lin·sey-wool·seys.

1. a coarse fabric woven from linen warp, or sometimes cotton, and coarse wool filling.
2. a garment made from this.
3. Archaic. any mixture that is incongruous or of poor quality; jumble:

   That last speech was a linsey-woolsey of stale platitudes.

linsey-woolsey

/ ˈlɪnzɪˈwʊlzɪ /

noun

1. a thin rough fabric of linen warp and coarse wool or cotton filling
2. a strange nonsensical mixture or confusion

Word History and Origins

Origin of linsey-woolsey¹

1425–75; late Middle English lynsy wolsye literally, linen cloth, wool cloth, equivalent to lyn ( Old English līn; linen ) + -sy, variant of say cloth (< Old French saie; akin to Medieval Latin sagia kind of weave, Latin sagum cloak) + wol wool + -sye, variant of say

Word History and Origins

Origin of linsey-woolsey¹

C15: probably from Lindsey, Suffolk village where the fabric was first made + wool (with rhyming suffix -sey )

Example Sentences

The women had on sun-bonnets; and some had linsey-woolsey frocks, some gingham ones, and a few of the young ones had on calico.

From Project Gutenberg

She was dressed in linsey-woolsey, and the overalls of the three sons were also home-spun.

From Project Gutenberg

The goods were of the home-made quality, known as "linsey-woolsey," a material worn by farmers almost universally in those days.

From Project Gutenberg

His wife wore a calico dress for company, while the neighbor wives wore homespun linsey-woolsey.

From Project Gutenberg

How he got at my birth behind my tangled mat of hair and wringing linsey-woolsey I know not to this day.

From Project Gutenberg