buckram

Meanings

1. A coarse cloth of cotton, linen or hemp, stiffened with size or glue, used in bookbinding to cover and protect the books, in garments to keep them in the form intended, and for wrappers to cover merchandise.
2. A crab that has just molted; a papershell.

1. To stiffen with or as if with buckram.

1. A plant of species Allium ursinum, also called ramson, wild garlic, or bear garlic.

Etymology

From Middle English bukeram (“fine linen”), from Anglo-Norman bokeram, from Old French boquerant, bougherant (“fine cloth”), bougueran, probably ultimately from Bokhara, a city in southeastern Uzbekistan.