Nearby Words

fustian

[fuhs-chuhn] Origin

fus·tian

[fuhs-chuhn]
noun
1.
a stout fabric of cotton and flax.
2.
a fabric of stout twilled cotton or of cotton and low-quality wool, with a short nap or pile.
3.
inflated or turgid language in writing or speaking: Fustian can't disguise the author's meager plot.
adjective
4.
made of fustian: a fustian coat; fustian bed linen.
5.
pompous or bombastic, as language: fustian melodrama.
6.
worthless; cheap: fustian knaves and dupes.

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Fustian is a GRE word you need to know.
So is resolute. Does it mean:
of, pertaining to, or resembling a palace
firmly resolved or determined, characterized by firmness and determination

Origin:
1150–1200; Middle English < Old French fustaigne < Medieval Latin fūstāneum, perhaps a derivative of Latin fūstis stick, cudgel (Late Latin: trunk; compare fusty), if a translation of Latin xylinus, Greek (Septuagint) xýlina lína cotton, literally, linen from wood; Fostat, a suburb of Cairo, has also been proposed as the source of fūstāneum


3. bombast, rant, claptrap.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
fustian (ˈfʌstɪən)
 
n
1.  a.  a hard-wearing fabric of cotton mixed with flax or wool with a slight nap
 b.  (as modifier): a fustian jacket
2.  pompous or pretentious talk or writing
 
adj
3.  cheap; worthless
4.  pompous; bombastic
 
[C12: from Old French fustaigne, from Medieval Latin fustāneum, from Latin fustis cudgel]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

fustian
"thick cotton cloth," c.1200, from O.Fr. fustaigne, from M.L. fustaneum, probably from L. fustis "staff, stick of wood," probably a loan-translation of Gk. xylina lina "linens of wood" (i.e. "cotton"), but the M.L. word is also derived from Fostat, town near Cairo where this cloth was manufactured. Figurative
EXPAND
sense of "pompous, inflated language" first recorded c.1590.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

fustian

fabric originally made by weaving two sets of cotton wefts, or fillings, on a linen warp, popular during the European Middle Ages. The word has come to denote a class of heavy cotton fabrics, some of which have pile surfaces, including moleskin, velveteen, and corduroy.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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