muslin

English

Wikipedia

A 1793 portrait by Angelica Kauffmann of Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough wearing a muslin dress

Etymology

From French mousseline, from Italian mussolina, from Mussolo (“Mosul”) in Northern Iraq (compare 1875 Knight, Edward H., Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, V2 p1502: "Muslins are so called from Moussol in India.")

Pronunciation

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Noun

muslin (plural muslins)

1. (textile) Any of several varieties of thin cotton cloth.
   • 1875 Knight, Edward H., Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, V2 p1502:

     A bleached or unbleached thin white cotton cloth, unprinted and undyed. [Nineteen varieties are thereafter listed.]

2. (US) Fabric made of cotton, flax (linen), hemp, or silk, finely or coarsely woven.
   • 1875 Knight, Edward H., Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, V2 pp1502-1503:

     Other very different styles of fabric are now indifferently called muslins, and the term is used differently on the respective sides of the Atlantic.

3. A term used for a wide variety of tightly-woven thin fabrics, especially those used for bedlinen. (US) Woven cotton or linen fabrics, especially when used for items other than garments.
4. A dressmaker's pattern made from inexpensive cloth for fitting.

Translations

thin cotton cloth

Finnish: musliini (fi) Russian: муслин (ru) (muslín) m. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: муслин (sh) Roman: muslin (sh)

very different styles of fabric — see fabric

thin fabric used for bedlinen

Finnish: lakanakangas (fi)

dressmaker's pattern

Finnish: sovitusmalli (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Arabic: شاش (šāš)

French: mousseline

References

• http://www.fabrics-manufacturers.com/muslin.html