Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

herringbone

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads
See also: herring-bone

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From herring +‎ bone.

Pronunciation

Noun

herringbone (countable and uncountable, plural herringbones)

  1. (literally, countable) A bone of a herring.
    • 1884, Samuel Smiles, Men of Invention and Industry:
      The prosperity of Amsterdam was then so great that it was said that Amsterdam was "founded on herring-bones."
  3. A zigzag pattern, especially made by bricks, on a cloth, or by stitches in sewing.
    • 1861, Charlotte Yonge, The Young Step-Mother:
      'The best path of life is but a herring-bone pattern.'
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
      Mr Bloom walked behind the eyeless feet, a flatcut suit of herringbone tweed.
    • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 174:
      Though almost engulfed by Bedford, Elstow's claim to villagedom is still maintained by two fine rows of timber-framed, overhung, black-and-white cottages and the timber and herringbone-brick Swan pub.
  4. (countable, skiing) A method of climbing a hill by pointing the skis outward in a V-shape to keep from sliding backwards.
  6. (textiles) Twilled fabric woven in rows of parallel sloping lines.
    • 1963, Men's Wear, volume 147, page 39:
      For some strange and elusive reason, the staid, prosaic herringbones have angled themselves into a position of fashion prominence.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

herringbone (third-person singular simple present herringbones, present participle herringboning, simple past and past participle herringboned)

  1. To stitch in a herringbone pattern.
  2. (skiing) To climb a hill by pointing the skis outward in a V-shape to keep from sliding backwards.

Derived terms

Further reading

Remove ads

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads