the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. A kind of stiff cloth, used chiefly by women, for underskirts, to expand the gown worn over it; -- so called because originally made of hair.
n. A lady's skirt made of any stiff material; latterly, a hoop skirt.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. A stiff material originally made wholly or in part of horsehair, whence the name.
n. Hence A skirt made of this stuff or of any stiffened or starched material.
n. A framework of fine steel or other hoops or springs, used for distending the dress; a hoop-skirt. See farthingale and hoop-skirt.
Pertaining to or resembling a crinoline in structure.
n. A contrivance worn by divers in deep water to enable them to breathe more freely. It is placed round the body and tied in front of the stomach.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. a full stiff petticoat made of crinoline fabric
n. a stiff coarse fabric used to stiffen hats or clothing
n. a skirt stiffened with hoops
Word Usage
"The woman, as she enters, drags after her a misshapen, dirty mass of battered wirework, which she calls her crinoline, and which adds as much to her grace and comfort as a log of wood does to a donkey when tied to the animal's leg in a paddock."