crinoline

C3R1I1N1O1L1I1N1E1
/ˈkɹɪnəlɪn/

noun

A stiff fabric made from cotton and horsehair.

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UncommonScrabble 11

Meanings

nouncrinoline (countable and uncountable, plural crinolines)

plural crinolines

  1. countableuncountableA stiff fabric made from cotton and horsehair.
  2. countableuncountableA stiff petticoat made from this fabric.

    These standards have not just been oppressive but deadly. In the nineteenth century, stiff crinoline petticoats puffed out skirts so far that the cheap materials often brushed against open flames and caught fire. This arbitrary convention of dress caused three thousand women to be burned alive.

    2022, W. David Marx, chapter 4, in Status and Culture, Viking, →ISBN
  3. countableuncountableA skirt stiffened with hoops.

    The various articles of a lady's apparel—dresses, skirts, crinolines, etc.—should be hung neatly away in the closet or wardrobe. The underclothing should be folded and placed in an orderly manner in the drawers of the dressing-bureau.

    1876, Eliza Bisbee Duffey, Our Behaviour: A Manual of Etiquette and Dress of the Best American Society, Philadelphia
  4. countableuncountableAny of the hoops making up the framework used to support cladding over a boiler.
  5. countableuncountableNetting placed around ships to guard against torpedoes.

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna skirt stiffened with hoops

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Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Frenchcrinoline
  2. Frenchcrinoline
  3. Englishcrinoline

Borrowed from French crinoline.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Czech krinolína
  • krinolínapetticoat
Finnish krinoliini
  • krinoliinipetticoat
French crinoline
  • crinolinepetticoat
Irish cóta fonsaí
  • cóta fonsaípetticoat
Italian crinolina
  • crinolinapetticoat
Japanese クリノリン
  • クリノリン (kurinorin)petticoat
Polish krynolina
  • krynolinapetticoat
Spanish crinolina, miriñaque
  • crinolinapetticoat
  • miriñaquepetticoat
Turkish krinolin
  • krinolinpetticoat

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

crinoline. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crinoline

MLA

“crinoline.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crinoline. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crinoline,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crinoline.

Source: crinoline on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.