homespun en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˈhoʊmˌspʌn/ (General-American)
- (US) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-éyti Proto-Indo-European *tḱéytibf. Proto-Indo-European *tḱey- Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *tḱóymos Proto-Germanic *haimaz Proto-West Germanic *haim Old English hām Middle English hōm English home English spun English homespun From home + spun.
Meanings
- (not-comparable, of yarn) Spun in the home.
- (not-comparable, of fabric) Woven in the home.
-
(not-comparable, of clothing, usually) Made from homespun fabric.
The woman was dressed in a long broad kaftanlike homespun shirt decorated with thin strips of reindeer fur, leather braiding, small gleaming plates of metal, and lots of little bells which made a rather pleasant melodic sound at every jolt of the train.
1996 [1994], Andrew Bromfield, transl., The Tambourine of the Upper World, translation of original by Victor Pelevin:homespun country garbs
1855–1859, Washington Irving, The Life of George Washington:He became more and more excited; he rose from the sofa, walked up and down the floor with hurried steps and fought with his hands in the air, till the light flickered hither and thither, while the sweeping tail of his long grey home-spun coat described long circles every time he swung himself round and raised himself on his longer leg, for, like Tyrtaeus and Peter Solvold of our parish, he was afflicted with a limp.
1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 250:
-
(broadly, not-comparable) Plain and homely; unsophisticated and unpretentious.
our homespun authors must forsake the field
1707, Joseph Addison, Prologue to Phaedra and Hippolitus (spoken by Mr. Wilkes, written by Edmund Smith)homespun wisdom
The McCains, by contrast, dole out such homespun wisdom as "in Arizona, the only way to get around the state is by small private plane" and understand that in this crazy modern world where the typical family owns eleven homes and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on household staff, you can't possibly expect transportation alternatives to gain popularity.
2008 July 15, Matthew Yglesias, “Obama's Elitism Problem, Continued”, in The Atlantic:The new cardinal was no theologian – his approach was more homespun – but his commitment to poor people was every bit as strong as that of the liberation theologians. He would simply say he did what the Jesus of the gospels told him to do.
2025 April 21, Peter Stanford, “Pope Francis obituary”, in The Guardian:our homespun English proverb
1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
Coordinates
Deriveds
Hypernyms
homemade · homemade · homemade
Synonyms
Translations (18)
fi kotikutoinen (woven at home) · pl zwyczajny (plain and homely) · fi kotona kehrätty (spun at home) · de schlicht (plain and homely) · de selbstgestrickt (plain and homely) · pl ręcznie tkany (made from homespun fabric) · fi kotikutoinen (plain and homely) · de hausgemacht (plain and homely) · pl samodziałowy (made from homespun fabric) · fi kotona kudottu (woven at home) · ru домотка́нный (woven at home) · pl prosty (plain and homely) · pl tkany w domu (woven at home) · fi kotikehruinen (spun at home) · pl uprzędzony w domu (spun at home) · fi kotikutoinen (made from homespun fabric) · de hausbacken (plain and homely) · fi kotitekoinen (made from homespun fabric)