Tweeds

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of coarse woolen fabric, often used in the making of jackets and trousers
2. a fashion style characterized by clothing made from such material, particularly suitable for outdoor use
3. a blend of traditional craftsmanship and durability, commonly associated with British country attire

Etymology: The most striking part of this story is the legend. Scottish tradition holds that "tweed" began as a mistake: an English merchant supposedly misread "tweeds" in an 1831 letter from a Scottish merchant and took it as a trade name tied to the River Tweed. Scholars find little evidence for this, and the cloth's name is more plausibly rooted in a Scots word. That word is "tweedling," a term for a type of twilled cloth attested in Scots since the 16th century. It is related to "tweel" and "tweeling," variants of Middle English "twel" and "twyle," meaning a woven fabric or twill, which is also the source of English "twill." The Scots forms seem to have been shortened, or back-formed, into "tweed," which appears in English from the 1830s. The earliest English citations, from 1839, 1841 and 1845, present the name as new for a fabric people already knew, which suggests the English word spread quickly from Scottish weaving traditions. The plural "tweeds" simply refers to more than one length or kind of this cloth.

Synonyms: fabric, material