homespunadj.n.
/ˈhəʊmspʌn/, U.S. /ˈhoʊmˌspən/ A. adj.
1. Of yarn or cloth: spun or woven in a person's own home; homemade; having the appearance of being made in this way. Also: (of clothing) made of such cloth.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric with specific qualities > [adjective] > coarse or rough
roughOE
sackena1450
rugged1558
homespun?1589
shaggy1664
nubbly1829
nubby1935
?1589 T. Nashe Almond for Parrat iii. 373 The home spunne cloth of the Lords own loombes.
1591 J. Florio Second Frutes A iv One being onely clad in home-spunn cloth.
1609 S. Rowlands Famous Hist. Guy Earle of Warwick 59 Homely Countery~gray, Such as the poor plain people term home-spun.
c1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) ii. 718 Thy syre..kept his wife in a course homespun gowne.
1691 J. Dunton Voy. round World III. i. 41 A plain Country-Fellow, in a gray home-spun Coat.
1713 Boston News-let. 7 Sept. 2/2 He had on when he went away a Home-spun strip'd Jacket, leather Breeches, home-spun Stockings, new Shoes.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 451 The farmers..are mostly clothed in plain, decent, homespun cloth.
1840 T. Southey Treat. Sheep xi. 97 There was a prohibition against the export of Tiftík from Turkey, except when wrought, or in the form of iplik, or homespun thread.
1879 W. W. Hunter Stat. Acct. Assam II. 147 Their dress..consists, for the males, merely of a band of homespun cloth about a yard and a half in length.
1916 Elem. School Jrnl. Sept. 57 His suit was made of homespun cloth.
1950 Western Horseman Sept. 37/2 The Mexican adopted leather or homespun wool for durability.
2007 Daily Tel. 14 Nov. 21/1 The Gandhian ideals of abstaining from alcohol, wearing homespun cotton khadi dress and carrying out manual labour.
2. Homely; simple, plain, unsophisticated; rough, rustic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > unaffectedness or naturalness > [adjective] > unsophisticated
plainc1425
homelyc1426
homespun1590
brown bread1606
unsophisticate1607
simple1613
uncompounded1615
uncourtlike1659
unsophisticated1665
russet-coated1683
buff1792
unvarnished1827
rube1898
cracker-barrel1933
haimish1957
bakya1960
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [adjective] > homely or rustic
homelya1387
uplandisha1387
hamald?a1400
rustical1483
agrestc1550
fustianc1550
homespun1590
russet1598
agrestic1617
raplocha1628
Adamitic1656
russet-coated1683
rustic1738
turnipy1792
countrified1875
corny1932
bakya1960
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > [adjective] > ill-mannered > unrefined
boistousc1300
untheweda1325
uplandisha1387
unaffiled1390
rudea1393
knavishc1405
peoplisha1425
clubbedc1440
blunt1477
lob?1507
robust1511
borel1513
carterly1519
clubbish1530
rough?1531
rustical?1532
incondite1539
agrestc1550
rusticc1550
brute1555
lobcocka1556
loutisha1556
carterlike1561
boorish1562
ruggedc1565
lobbish1567
loutlike1567
sowish1570
clownish1581
unrefined1582
impolished1583
homespun1590
transalpinea1592
swaddish1593
unpolished1594
untutored1595
swabberly1596
tartarous1602
porterly1603
lobcocked1606
lob-like1606
cluster-fisted1611
agrestic1617
inurbane1623
unelevated1627
incult1628
unbrushed1640
vulgar1643
unhewed1644
unsmooth1648
hirsute1658
loutardly1658
unhewn1659
roughsome?c1660
sordid1668
inhumanea1680
coarse1699
brutal1709
ramgunshoch1721
tramontane1740
uncouth1740
no-nationa1756
unurbane1760
turnipy1792
rudas1802
common1804
cubbish1819
clodhopping1828
vulgarian1833
cloddish1844
unkempt1846
bush1851
vulgarish1860
rodney1866
crude1876
ignorant1886
yobby1910
nekulturny1932
oikish1959
yobbish1966
ocker1972
down and dirty1977
1590 T. Watson Eglogue vpon Death Walsingham sig. C3v Lest my homespun verse obscure hir worth, sweet Spencer let me leaue this taske to thee.
1600 T. Dekker Old Fortunatus sig. F3 His wooing is plaine home-spun stuffe: theres no outlandish thred in it.
1618 J. Taylor Pennyles Pilgr. in Wks. (1883) 62 Yet this plain home-spun fellow keeps..thirty, forty, fifty servants.
1649 W. Blith Eng. Improver 2 I will deliver my selfe in our owne naturall country Language, and in our ordinary and usuall home-spun tearmes.
1766 J. Fordyce Serm. Young Women I. iv. 123 Sobriety is..void of show; substantial, home-spun, and hardy.
1792 J. Byng Diary 2 June in Torrington Diaries (1936) III. 30 There I saw many clean-drest home-spun people walking towards their church.
1874 J. P. Mahaffy Social Life Greece iv. 79 The plainest homespun morality.
1876 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 2nd Ser. vi. 252 Crabbe was one of those simple, homespun characters.
1905 H. S. Krans W. B. Yeats Irish Literary Revival (new ed.) iv. 122 Maurteen, the good man of the family, genial, indulgent, with his store of homespun wisdom.
1948 Life June 90/2 He realizes that his fans prefer to think of him as a simple, homespun character.
1995 Esquire Aug. 34/4 The food at the Avenue has the same homespun flavor.
B. n.† 1. A person who wears homespun clothing, hence (in early use) a rustic person, a peasant. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farmer > [noun] > rustic or peasant > ignorant
chuffc1440
lob1533
lobcocka1556
hick1565
bumpkin1570
swad1572
hob-clunch1578
hoblob1582
clubhutchen1584
gran1591
bacon1598
boor1598
hobbinol1600
homespun1600
lob-coat1604
loblolly1604
hobnail1645
bacon-slicer1653
jobson1660
hob-thrush1682
country put1688
put1688
clodhopper1699
bumpkinet1714
joskin1811
yokel1819
whopstraw1821
chaw-bacon1822
lobeline1844
farmer1864
sheepshagger1958
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > specific classes of common people > peasant or rustic > [noun] > rude or ignorant
chuffc1440
mobarda1450
lob1533
lobcocka1556
clown1565
hick1565
bumpkin1570
swad1572
peasant1576
hob-clunch1578
hoblob1582
clubhutchen1584
bacon1598
boor1598
hobbinol1600
homespun1600
loblolly lamb1600
lob-coat1604
loblolly1604
hobnail1645
champkina1652
bacon-slicer1653
jobson1660
hob-thrush1682
country put1688
put1688
country cousin1692
clodhopper1699
hawbuck1787
Johnny Raw1803
joskin1811
yokel1819
whopstraw1821
chaw-bacon1822
lobeline1844
country jake1845
Hoosier1846
hayseed1851
Reuben1855
scissorbill1876
agricole1882
country jay1888
rube1891
jasper1896
farmer1903
stump jumper1936
woop woop1936
potato head1948
no-neck1961
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. i. 71 What hempen homespunnes haue we swaggring here? View more context for this quotation
1604 Fr. Bacon's Proph. in W. C. Hazlitt Remains Early Pop. Poetry Eng. (1866) IV. 281 Sheepes Russet to home spunne.
1876 S. Lanier in Lippincott's Monthly Mag. July 49 The red-coats fire, the homespuns fall: The homespuns' anxious voices call.
2. Yarn, cloth, or clothing woven in a person's own home; spec. a coarse woollen cloth formerly made by weavers using hand-looms; any coarse or loosely-woven material resembling this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric with specific qualities > [noun] > coarse or rough > other
grey russetc1400
raploch1535
roudgea1549
reading1580
burracan1588
stand far off1613
stand-further-off1619
homespun1651
half-thick1693
soldier's cloth1753
toile de ménage1794
rugging1838
stramin1914
1651 Bp. J. Taylor XXVIII Serm. vi. 75 Dionysius..stole from Apollo his golden cloak, and gave him a cloak of Arcadian home-spun.
1740 S. Richardson Pamela II. 135 The Ladies, who had not seen me out of my Homespun before, made me abundance of fine Compliments.
1770 M. Goosley Let. 8 Aug. in F. Mason John Norton & Sons (1968) 143 Is there no Probability of making your great ones act right or will they Put us under the necessity of wearing homespun altogether?
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 520 Most of the families..are clothed in strong, decent homespun.
1858 H. W. Longfellow Courtship Miles Standish iii. 53 She, the Puritan girl..Making the humble house and the modest apparel of homespun Beautiful with her beauty.
1883 Cassell's Family Mag. Oct. 697/1 Homespuns are still much worn.
1927 J. Buchan Witch Wood vi. 108 The men in decent homespun and broad bonnets, the old wives in their white mutches.
1970 Life 26 June 16 (advt.) Take home tartans, homespuns, a birch-bark what-not trimmed with porcupine quills.
2004 Pract. Crafts July 26/1 As a guide, cut the clouds from white homespun and the foreground from brown corduroy.
3. Something, esp. writing, which is homely, plain, unsophisticated, or rustic in style. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [noun] > homeliness or rusticity > instance or example of
rusticity1604
homespun1845
1845 Athenæum 4 Jan. 17 The edifice is of uniform texture, instead of being..of superfine quality in one part, and arrant home-spun in another.
1887 H. Caine Deemster I. vii. 137 The young rogue, who spoke the home-spun to the life.
1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 21 Dec. 3/1 Nor is the style..comparable in any way with the classic homespun of Cellini.
1918 Poetry May 104 Mr. Thomas' verse has come under various influences, not the least of which is a sort of Celtic waywardness, with..a tinge of the homely homespun of Robert Frost.
1927 H. Granville-Barker Pref. Shakespeare 53 It is not the homespun of Holinshed, nor the crude stuff of the Famous Victories.
Compounds
Instrumental, as homespun-clad, homespun-hooded, etc.
ΚΠ
1851 J. R. Cobb Mississippi Scenes x. 144 A tall, bulky, homespun-dressed farmer..sat alone under a huge oak tree.
1856 W. Irving Life Washington II. xxviii. 333 Alas, for the homespun-clad officers from Connecticut River!
1897 Westm. Gaz. 27 Mar. 5/2 Peasants, dressed in coarse, woollen homespun-hooded garments.
1930 E. Sitwell Alexander Pope 6 The homespun-dressed, pedestrian, worthy-citizen type of verse.
2006 W. Groom Patriotic Fire vii. 103 They were rough, tough, unshaven, buckskin- or homespun-clad, and generally wild and murderous looking backwoodsmen.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
adj.n.?1589