Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A twilled woolen fabric, sometimes with a cotton warp, used for coats.
- noun A garment made of this fabric.
- noun A woolen, often ribbed fabric formerly used for hose and trousers.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A kind of coarse woolen cloth, usually ribbed, made from long wool
- Made of kersey-cloth.
- Hence Homespun; homely.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A kind of coarse, woolen cloth, usually ribbed, woven from wool of long staple.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A type of rough woollen
cloth .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He wadded the kersey into the wound, then got his one good arm underneath Jesse.
City of Glory Beverly Swerling 2007
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February 15, 2005 13: 21 davon kersey: yo this twin .u got a nice flo .u flowed wit my bro last year at the football game. i go to hshs. holla at ya boi ma
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He wadded the kersey into the wound, then got his one good arm underneath Jesse.
City of Glory Beverly Swerling 2007
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And his dress, in her opinion, was enough to frighten a hodman, of a scavenger of the roads, instead of the decent suit of kersey, or of Sabbath doeskins, such as had won the respect and reverence of his fellow-townsmen.
Lorna Doone Richard Doddridge 2004
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Near Panurge, with his kersey coat, its hair used to turn grey; near Pantagruel, with his scarlet mantle, its hair and skin grew red; near the pilot, dressed after the fashion of the Isiacs of Anubis in Egypt, its hair seemed all white, which two last colours the chameleons cannot borrow.
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002
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Near Panurge, with his kersey coat, its hair used to turn grey; near Pantagruel, with his scarlet mantle, its hair and skin grew red; near the pilot, dressed after the fashion of the Isiacs of Anubis in Egypt, its hair seemed all white, which two last colours the chameleons cannot borrow.
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002
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Uniform cloth -- Cloth suitable for uniforms, usually a stout, fulled, woolen cloth, similar to kersey.
Textiles and Clothing Kate Heintz Watson
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The best dress livery is a frock coat, single-breasted, of kersey, the color of your livery; white buckskin riding breeches, top boots, top hat, white plastron, standing collar, and brown driving gloves.
The Complete Bachelor Manners for Men Walter Germain
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The fashionable overcoat in winter is a Chesterfield or single-breasted frock of kersey or like material in brown, blue, or black, with velvet collar.
The Complete Bachelor Manners for Men Walter Germain
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Rather would we choose the "russet Yeas and honest kersey Noes" of sturdy yeoman speech; and cheerfully taking the head of our well-stocked table, ask in homely terms that
Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure William Thomas Fernie
chained_bear commented on the word kersey
OED:
karsie, carsie, -zie, 6-8 kersie, -sy, 7 kerzie.
Possibly named from the village of Kersey in Suffolk, (cf. Kendal, Worsted, etc., as names of fabrics); though evidence actually connecting the original manufacture of the cloth with that place has not been found. See note below.
1. A kind of coarse narrow cloth, woven from long wool and usually ribbed.
2. With a and pl. a. A piece of kersey of a definite size. Obs. b. A make or variety of kersey (chiefly in pl.).
In the 16-17th c. kerseys are commonly contrasted with cloths or broad-cloth; the size of the latter was fixed by the statute of 1465 as 24 yds. long by 2 wide, while a kersey was only 18 yds. long and a yard and a nail in width. The act of 1552 enumerates various kinds of kerseys, as ordinary, sorting, Devonshire (called dozens), and check kerseys, and fixes their length as between 17 and 18 yards; in 1557 this was reduced to between 16 and 17. About 1618 we find three kersies reckoned as equal to one cloth (see CLOTH 8).
c. pl. = sense 1. Obs.
3. pl. Trousers made of kersey.
4. attrib. or as adj. Made of kersey.
b. fig. Plain, homely. Obs.
5. Comb., as kersey-clothier, maker.
Hence kersey v., to clothe in kersey. rare1.
At an early date the word appears in OF. as carizé, carisé (1453 in Godef. Compl.), later carisie and carisel. It is also common in MDu. as kerseye, kaersay, carcey, etc. (mod.Du. karsaai), and is found in G. as kirsei, kirschei (earlier carisey); also Da. kersei, kirsei, and Sw. kersing. It. and Sp. carisea are app. from the older F. forms.'>Note. Historically the evidence is in favour of the name being of English origin; Caersige was the OE. form of Kersey in Suffolk (Earle Land Charters 484). Panni cersegi were manufactured in England in 1262; Kerseyes were important English exports in 1390; drap de Kersy is mentioned along with other fabrics named from places in 1399; carisies d'Angleterre are mentioned in French in 1630 (Godef. Compl.), and kentischer kirsey in German in 1716 (Grimm).
At an early date the word appears in OF. as carizé, carisé (1453 in Godef. Compl.), later carisie and carisel. It is also common in MDu. as kerseye, kaersay, carcey, etc. (mod.Du. karsaai), and is found in G. as kirsei, kirschei (earlier carisey); also Da. kersei, kirsei, and Sw. kersing. It. and Sp. carisea are app. from the older F. forms.
September 10, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word kersey
"... a course (sic) stuff, used on many occasions in a ship, such as in boxing of the stem, and lining the ports, for the purpose of excluding the water, also to cover the man-ropes, &c."
—Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 210
October 12, 2008
rolig commented on the word kersey
The Russian version of this, kirza, was traditionally used for army boots and, perhaps, door insulation (see Languagehat's blog (13 Oct. 2008).
October 15, 2008