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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Fustian

Fūs'tian, n.

noun

(fŭst'yan, 66, 97), n. [O. Fr. *fustaïne, fus-tenne, N. Fr. futaine, Pr. fustani, Sp. fustan, It. fustagno, L. Lat. fustianum, fustaneum, fustanum;—so called from Fostat, or Fossat, i. e., Cairo, where it was made.]

Sense 1. A kind of coarse twilled cotton stuff, including corduroy, velveteen, &c.

Sense 2. An inflated style of writing; a kind of writing in which high-sounding words are used, above the dignity of the thoughts or subject; a swelling style; bombast.

Claudius . . . has run his description into the most wretched fustian. Addison.

Fūs'tian, a.

adjective

(fūst'yan), a. 1. Made of fustian. 2. Swelling above the dignity of the thoughts or subject; too pompous; ridiculously tumid; turgid; inflated; bombastic. “As fustian and tedious a history.” H. Walpole.