homespun

1. not comparableSpun in the home.
2. not comparableWoven in the home.
3. not comparableusuallyMade from homespun fabric.

   homespun country garbs

   1855–1859, Washington Irving, The Life of George Washington

   2 more examples

   He became more and more excited; he rose from the sofa, walked up and down the floor with hurried steps and fought with his hands in the air, till the light flickered hither and thither, while the sweeping tail of his long grey home-spun coat described long circles every time he swung himself round and raised himself on his longer leg, for, like Tyrtaeus and Peter Solvold of our parish, he was afflicted with a limp.

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 250

   The woman was dressed in a long broad kaftanlike homespun shirt decorated with thin strips of reindeer fur, leather braiding, small gleaming plates of metal, and lots of little bells which made a rather pleasant melodic sound at every jolt of the train.

   1996 [1994], Andrew Bromfield, transl., The Tambourine of the Upper World, translation of original by Victor Pelevin

4. broadlynot comparablePlain and homely; unsophisticated and unpretentious.

   homespun wisdom

   4 more examples

   our homespun English proverb

   1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   our homespun authors must forsake the field

   1707, Joseph Addison, Prologue to Phaedra and Hippolitus (spoken by Mr. Wilkes, written by Edmund Smith)

   The McCains, by contrast, dole out such homespun wisdom as "in Arizona, the only way to get around the state is by small private plane" and understand that in this crazy modern world where the typical family owns eleven homes and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on household staff, you can't possibly expect transportation alternatives to gain popularity.

   2008 July 15, Matthew Yglesias, “Obama's Elitism Problem, Continued”, in The Atlantic

   The new cardinal was no theologian – his approach was more homespun – but his commitment to poor people was every bit as strong as that of the liberation theologians. He would simply say he did what the Jesus of the gospels told him to do.

   2025 April 21, Peter Stanford, “Pope Francis obituary”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: down-home, cracker-barrel

plural homespuns

1. countableuncountableFabric made from homespun yarn; clothing made from it. Also, machine made fabrics (usually cottons) similar to homespun fabrics in that solids, plaids, or stripes are created by weaving dyed threads (rather than printing), so that both sides of the fabric look the same.

   By this time, his rough homespun had been cast off for a suit of buff and blue, with buckskin breeches, his muddy brogans for the latest top boots.

   1927, Joseph Auslander, Frank Ernest Hill, Theresa West Elmendorf, The Winged Horse, page 220

   1 more example

   There are four men, heavily bearded and more than a little dirty, and two young women, all of them busy with shovels in or around an opened grave and all dressed identically in shirts and trousers of tattered homespun.

   1948 August, Aldous Huxley, Ape and Essence, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC

2. countableobsoleteuncountableAn unpolished, rustic person.

   What hempen home-ſpuns haue we ſwaggering here, / So neere the Cradle of the Faierie Queene?

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 152, column 1