Word.ws English Dictionary

linseywoolsey

linseywoolsey is the alternative spelling of linsey-woolsey.

Meaning of linsey-woolsey

Noun

linsey-woolsey (countable and uncountable, plural linsey-woolseys)

  1. A fabric made of both linen and wool.
    • I had as lieue haue no ſunne, as haue it ſhine faintly, no fire, as a ſmothering fire of ſmall coales, no cloathes, rather then vveare linſey vvolſey.1599, [Thomas] Nashe, “To His Readers, Hee Cares Not What They Be”, in Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […]...
    Synonyms:
    shatnez, wincey, woolsey
  2. (archaic, figuratively) Worthless material; nonsense; gibberish.
    • [W]hat linsey-woolsey hast thou to speak […]c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

See all 3 meanings of linsey-woolsey

Forms of linseywoolsey

plurallinseywoolseys

Questions about linseywoolsey

What is linseywoolsey the alternative spelling of?
Linseywoolsey is the alternative spelling of linsey-woolsey.

Words near linseywoolsey in the dictionary

  1. Linses
  2. linsey
  3. linsey-woolsey
  4. linsey-woolseys
  5. linseys
  6. linseywoolsey
  7. linseywoolseys
  8. linsheng
  9. linsidomine
  10. Linsky
  11. Linskys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: linseywoolsey (page history and authors); linsey-woolsey (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “linseywoolsey.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/linseywoolsey. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.