crinoline

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Crinoline, farthingale, hoop skirt, petticoat, and bustle all refer to undergarments that change the shape of a skirt, but they differ in era and structure. A crinoline (sense 1) is the metal- or whalebone-hooped frame worn in the mid-to-late 1800s to make skirts stand out in a full bell shape. A farthingale is an earlier hoop frame from the 16th–17th centuries, usually conical or drum-shaped. A hoop skirt is a broader modern term for any skirt supported by hoops, often used interchangeably with crinoline but technically referring to the skirt-and-frame combination. A petticoat is a soft underskirt that may be layered for fullness but usually has no rigid frame — it relies on fabric volume rather than a structure. A bustle, popular in the 1880s–1890s, pads the back of the skirt rather than spreading it out evenly. For example: "The Victorian woman's crinoline made her skirt swing as she walked," but "the Elizabethan farthingale gave her gown a sharply conical silhouette."

Common collocations

Etymology

Crinoline comes from Italian crinolino, a blend of crino (horsehair, from Latin crinis meaning hair) and lino (flax or linen, from Latin linum). The word first referred to a stiff horsehair-and-linen fabric used for tailoring, and later shifted to describe the hooped skirt frame that was often made from or covered with this fabric. English borrowed it from French in the early 1800s.