Farthingale

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈfɑːðɪŋɡeɪl/

Alternative forms

• vardingale
• verdugal

Origin

From Middle French verdugale, from Spanish verdugado, from verdugo ("rod").

Full definition of farthingale

Noun

1. (now historical) A hooped structure in cloth worn to extend the skirt of women's dresses; a hooped petticoat.
• 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.12:women ... make trunk-sleeves of wyre and whale-bone bodies, backes of lathes, and stiffe bumbasted verdugals, and to the open-view of all men paint and embellish themselves with counterfeit and borrowed beauties ....
• 2003, Alexander Chancellor, The Guardian, 3 May 2003:In Henry VIII's Great Hall, there were men in doublets and codpieces prancing up and down with women in farthingales.