linsey-woolsey

[ lin-zee-woo l-zee ]
/ ˈlɪn ziˈwʊl zi /

noun, plural lin·sey-wool·seys.

a coarse fabric woven from linen warp, or sometimes cotton, and coarse wool filling.
a garment made from this.
Archaic. any mixture that is incongruous or of poor quality; jumble: That last speech was a linsey-woolsey of stale platitudes.
Also called linsey.

Origin of linsey-woolsey

1425–75; late Middle English lynsy wolsye literally, linen cloth, wool cloth, equivalent to lyn (Old English līn; see 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

Words nearby linsey-woolsey

linseed, linseed cake, linseed meal, linseed oil, linsey, linsey-woolsey, linstock, lint, lintel, linter, lintie

Example sentences from the Web for linsey-woolsey

British Dictionary definitions for linsey-woolsey

linsey-woolsey
/ (ˈlɪnzɪˈwʊlzɪ) /

noun

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

Word Origin for linsey-woolsey

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