Buckram

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbÊŒkrÉ™m/

From Middle English bukeram ("fine linen"), from Anglo-Norman bokeram, from Old French boquerant, bougherant ("fine cloth"), bougueran, probably ultimately from Bokhara.

Full definition of buckram

Noun

1. A coarse cloth of linen or hemp, stiffened with size or glue, used in garments to keep them in the form intended, and for wrappers to cover merchandise.
• 1882: Buckram was probably from the first a stiffened material employed for lining, often dyed. — James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 4, p. 557.

Verb

1. (transitive) To stiffen with or as if with buckram.

Perhaps from earlier buckrams, from buck + ramson("wild garlic, ramson"). Compare Danish ramsløg ("ramson"), Swedish ramslök ("bear garlic, ramson").

Alternative forms

• buckrams

Noun

1. (botany) A plant, Allium ursinum, also called ramson, wild garlic, or bear garlic.