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Sep 18, 2007

This week's theme
Fabric words used metaphorically

This week's words
linsey-woolsey
buckram
grog
bombast
fustian

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buckram

noun:
1. A stiff cotton fabric used in interlining garments, in bookbinding, etc.
2. Stiffness; formality.

verb tr.:
1. To strengthen with buckram.
2. To give a false appearance of strength, importance, etc.

Of uncertain origin. Perhaps after Bukhara, Uzbekistan, a city noted for textiles.

"Dick and his father were henceforth on terms of coldness. The upright old gentleman grew more upright when he met his son, buckramed with immortal anger."
Robert Louis Stevenson; The Story of a Lie; 1879.

See more usage examples of buckram in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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