Meanings
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1
noun
a durable cotton fabric with raised parallel ribs running along its surface
He wore a brown corduroy jacket through most of the winter.
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2
noun
corduroy trousers; used chiefly in the plural corduroys
She paired her old corduroys with a wool sweater.
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3
noun
a road or track made by laying logs crosswise over soft or marshy ground
The wagons crossed the swamp on a rough corduroy road.
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4
verb
to make a road across soft ground by laying logs side by side
The workers corduroyed the muddy approach so supply carts could pass.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Origin uncertain, probably from cord, referring to the fabric's ribs, plus duroy, the name of a coarse English woolen fabric. The often-repeated derivation from French corde du roi, 'the king's cloth,' is unsupported; French calls the material velours côtelé. The log-road sense arose from the parallel ridges resembling the cloth.