Meanings
plural crinolines
- 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 - 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 - countableuncountableNetting placed around ships to guard against torpedoes.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchcrinoline
- Frenchcrinoline
- Englishcrinoline
Borrowed from French crinoline.
More words from French
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
crinoline. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crinoline
“crinoline.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crinoline. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crinoline,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crinoline.
Source: crinoline on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.