Furbelow

[Dr. Goodword]

• furbelow •

Pronunciation: fêr-bê-lo • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A flounce, a ruffle on a garment, curtain, tablecloth, or the like. 2. Anything unnecessary but showy.

Notes: A strip of fur on the hem of an overcoat would be pretty fur below but not a furbelow, which is a ruffle, a flounce. Still, while you may flounce into a room, your dress bouncing up and down, you cannot furbelow into a room. To furbelow a room, you would have to decorate it with ruffles and such.



In Play: Furbelows are generally associated with women's dress: "Murine wore a polka dot jumper with flowery furbelows on the shoulder straps." But you may occasionally see them in unexpected places, "When McDowell turned up at the fete with a furbelow on his kilt and a flounce in his walk, the womenfolk shied away from him." Of course, furbelows need not be ruffles: "Rod loves to load his car with furbelows like oversized tires, mud flaps, and running board lights."

Word History: Today's Good Word is one that has seen the world. It would seem to have descended from Provençal farbello "fringe", a corruption of Italian faldella, the diminutive of falda "flap, leaf, sheet". Now, falda was borrowed from a Germanic word that also gave us Old English faldan "to fold", modern day fold. The old word also went into the compound faldistolaz "folding stool", absorbed by Medieval Latin as faldistolium "folding chair". Faldistolium went on to become Old French faldestoel and, ultimately, Modern French fauteuil "armchair".

[Philip Hudson]

a fur down is a construct over a kitchen cabinet that go to the ceiling. While discussing the subject one of my carpenter friends, I asked for its etymology. He answered, "I'm not sure. I think it comes from some furren language.

[LukeJavan8]

[Slava]

Here's a theory on the etymology of fur down:

The term originates from a key property of fur, which traps air and acts as an insulator for animals.

When you build a fur, you are entrapping a pocket of air somewhere in the space.

When you build it against the ceiling, you fur it down (toward the floor), and thus it becomes a "fur down" when colloquially described in noun form.

When you add a suffix to a word which ends in a consonant, you double the final letter, hence "furred" when it is used as an adverbial adjective: a furred ceiling.

From: http://www.inspectionnews.net/home_insp ... -down.html

There are many other theories there, but this one makes the most sense.

[Philip Hudson]

Slava: Thanks for the comment on fur down. Etymologies are sometimes hard to get.

Let's not forget the topical good word, furbelow. It is a fascinating word that I didn't know. I thank the Good Doctor for it. Here in the hinterland one might say, "Susie sashayed into the daaance hall a-flouncin' her furbelow, mesmerizing the men folks and infuriating the women folks."

[call_copse]

"Susie sashayed into the daaance hall a-flouncin' her furbelow, mesmerizing the men folks and infuriating the women folks."

That sounded a little more risque than I think you meant it to

[Philip Hudson]

Iain: If you knew Susie like I know Susie --- you get the idea,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0zKqiClt1k