flannel

flan·nel

a soft, lightweight, loosely woven woolen cloth with a slightly napped surface
cotton flannel
[pl.]
1. trousers, etc. made of light flannel
2. heavy woolen underwear
Brit., Informal vague, indirect speech or writing, used as to avoid answering a question

Origin of flannel

ME, akin to or from flanen from Welsh gwlanen from gwlan, wool from Indo-European base an unverified form wel-, hair, wool

transitive verb

-·neled or -·nelled, -·nel·ing or -·nel·ling

to wrap or clothe in flannel

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MLA Style

"flannel." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Flannel>.

APA Style

flannel. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Flannel

flannel

noun

A soft woven cloth of wool or a blend of wool and cotton or synthetics.
flannels
a. Outer clothing, especially pants, made of this cloth.
b. Underclothing made of this cloth.
Flannelette.

Origin of flannel

Middle English a kind of woolen cloth or garment perhaps variant of flanyn sackcloth probably from Old French flaine a kind of coarse wool

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"flannel." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 19 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Flannel>.

APA Style

flannel. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Flannel

Noun

(countable and uncountable, plural flannels)

(uncountable) A soft cloth material woven from wool, possibly combined with cotton or synthetic fibers.
With the weather turning colder, it was time to dig out our flannel sheets and nightclothes.
(New Zealand, UK) A washcloth.
(slang) Soothing plausible untruth and half truth, claptrap - "Don't talk flannel"

Adjective

(not comparable)

made of flannel

Verb

(third-person singular simple present flannels, present participle flanneling, simple past and past participle flanneled)

to rub with a flannel
to flatter; suck up to

Origin

Middle English flaunneol, from Anglo-Norman flanelle (cf. Jersiais flianné), diminutive of Old French flaine, floene 'coarse wool', from Gaulish vlanā ‘wool’ (cf. Welsh gwlân, Breton gloan). More at wool.