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Sep 18, 2007
This week's theme
Fabric words used metaphorically

This week's words
linsey-woolsey
buckram
grog
bombast
fustian

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

buckram

(BUK-ruhm) Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

noun:
1. A stiff cotton fabric used in interlining garments, in bookbinding, etc.
2. Stiffness; formality.

verb tr.:
1. To strengthen with buckram.
2. To give a false appearance of strength, importance, etc.

Of uncertain origin. Perhaps after Bukhara, Uzbekistan, a city noted for textiles.

"Dick and his father were henceforth on terms of coldness. The upright old gentleman grew more upright when he met his son, buckramed with immortal anger."
Robert Louis Stevenson; The Story of a Lie; 1879.

See more usage examples of buckram in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

Political history is largely an account of mass violence and of the expenditure of vast resources to cope with mythical fears and hopes. -Murray Edelman, professor, author (1919-2001)

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