Fustian (Noun)
Pronunciation: ['fês-chên]
Definition: (1) Originally today's word referred to a course, heavy material made of cotton and flax but today it refers to a cotton material with a short nap, like corduroy and velveteen; (2) pompous, turgid, bombastic language or speech.
Usage: The only interesting note on the usage of today's word is that it may be used freely as an adjective or noun: a fustian jacket or a jacket of fustian—makes no difference. The same applies to the other meaning of the word: a fustian tirade or a tirade of pure fustian.
Suggested Usage: We seldom talk about the cloth, fustian, but it is still there to be applied judiciously, "Rusty Bell's fustian clothes go well with his soft-spoken personality." Most often today's word comes up in conversations about bombastic speech: "The points he makes in his speeches are usually couched（表达） in such fustian as to make them difficult to find."
Etymology: Today's word comes to us Old French "fustaigne," a word inherited from Medieval Latin "fustianum," possibly from El Fustat, a section of Cairo, Egypt, where the material is though to have been originally manufactured. The connection between cloth and pomposity is also reflected in "bombast," which comes from Old French bombace "cotton wadding," i.e. stuffing.
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