Muslin Meaning
/ˈmʌz.lɪn/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny of several varieties of thin cotton cloth.
nounFabric made of cotton, flax (linen), hemp, or silk, finely or coarsely woven.
Sentence Examples
Velvet and muslin are two very different types of fabric.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She bought a lightweight cotton ____ to make comfortable summer dresses for very hot days.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The dressmaker decided to use a fine ____ fabric for the summer dress because it is very lightweight, breathable, and feels very comfortable against the soft skin.
Word Origin & History
From French mousseline, from Italian mussolina, from Mussolo (“Mosul”), that is Mosul in northern Iraq (compare 1875 Knight, Edward H., Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, V2 p1502: "Muslins are so called from Moussol in India."). Doublet of mousseline.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] my pupils leave off their thick shoes and tight old tartan pelisses, and wear silk stockings and muslin frocks, as fashionable baronets' daughters should."
— 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 11, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
"A bleached or unbleached thin white cotton cloth, unprinted and undyed. [Nineteen varieties are thereafter listed.]"
— 1875, Edward H. Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, volume 2, page 1502:
"It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar."
— 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:
"Other very different styles of fabric are now indifferently called muslins, and the term is used differently on the respective sides of the Atlantic."
— 1875, Edward H. Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, volume 2, pages 1502–1503:
""That was a pretty bit of muslin hanging on your arm—who was she?” asked the fascinating student."
— 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 51, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She bought a lightweight cotton ____ to make comfortable summer dresses for very hot days.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The dressmaker decided to use a fine ____ fabric for the summer dress because it is very lightweight, breathable, and feels very comfortable against the soft skin.