Forms: 7–8 furbelo(e, 8 furbellow, (forbulo, forbuloe), 8– furbelow. [An alteration of FALBALA.]
1. A piece of stuff pleated and puckered on a gown or petticoat; a flounce; the pleated border of a petticoat or gown. Now often in pl. as a contemptuous term for showy ornaments or trimming, esp. in a lady’s dress.
1706. Mrs. Centlivre, Basset Table, IV. H 2 b. Lady Revel … Discovers a purse in the Furbeloes of her Apron.
c. 1710. C. Fiennes, Diary (1888), 15. Their peticoates silke yt were with furbellows one above another with Ribons.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 15, ¶ 4. A Furbelow of precious Stones, an Hat buttoned with a Diamond.
1760. C. Johnston, Chrysal (1822), I. 275. Here, Jane, settle the furbellows of my scarf.
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), II. 366, ‘Yes or No,’ iii.
| The Baron bows low to a furbelow, | |
| If it be not my Lady’s dress; | |
| And the Baron will ever mutter ‘No,’ | |
| When my Lady whispers ‘Yes.’ |
1862. Miss Braddon, Lady Audley, xxxiii. 240. My lady smiled as she looked at the festoons and furbelows which met her eye upon every side.
fig. 1883. D. G. Mitchell, Bound Together, i. Rhetorical furbelows or broidery that belong to the wardrobes of the past.
2. Anything resembling a flounce.
1742. H. Baker, Microsc., II. xxvi. 203. Its Wings are encompassed with a Furbelow of long Feathers.
1875. Carpenter, Microscope, xi. § 481. 584. The beautiful Chrysaora remarkable for its long ‘furbelows’ which act as organs of prehension.
3. A name for Laminaria bulbosa, a seaweed with a large wrinkled frond.
1846–51. Harvey, Phycologia Britannica, III. Plate ccxli. This is the largest British species of the Laminarieæ…. Its common name is Furbelows.
1864. Tennyson, Sea Dreams, 257. You … made The dimpled flounce of the sea-furbelow flap … to please the child.
† 4. Conchol. (See quot.) ? Obs.
1776. trans. Da Costa’s Conchol., 289. The Furbelow from Falkland Island; Baccinium Fimbriatum.
5. attrib. passing into adj.; chiefly in the sense ‘having furbelows,’ pleated. † Also as the name of a kind of pear.
c. 1680. Crys of London, in Bagford Ballads, I. 116. Will you buy any Furbeloe Pears.
1705. Lond. Gaz., No. 4177/4. Lost … a blue Furbelow Coach-Box Cloth.
1706. Farquhar, Recruit. Officer, IV. i. I’ll buy you a furbelow scarf.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull, III. i. Crimpt ribbons in her headdress, furbelo-scarfs, and hooped-petticoats.
1803. Mary Charlton, Wife & Mistress, III. 221. You look like a spectre, child! Faith, if you were to put round you a heap of furbelow veils, you would look picturesque enough!
