crinoline

noun crinolines

1. countable, uncountable A stiff fabric made from cotton and horsehair.
2. countable, uncountable A stiff petticoat made from this fabric. These standards have not just been oppressive but deadly. In the nineteenth century, stiff crinoline petticoats puffed out skirts so far that the cheap materials often brushed against open flames and caught fire. This arbitrary convention of dress caused three thousand women to be burned alive.
3. countable, uncountable A skirt stiffened with hoops. The various articles of a lady's apparel—dresses, skirts, crinolines, etc.—should be hung neatly away in the closet or wardrobe. The underclothing should be folded and placed in an orderly manner in the drawers of the dressing-bureau.
4. countable, uncountable Any of the hoops making up the framework used to support cladding over a boiler.
5. countable, uncountable Netting placed around ships to guard against torpedoes.