fabric

fabric
\ \ [15] Latin faber was a term for an artisan who worked with hard materials – a carpenter, for example, or a smith (it probably came from a prehistoric Indo-European base meaning ‘fit things together’). From it was derived fabrica, which denoted the trade such a man followed, the place where he worked, or in general terms the product of his work – in the case of a carpenter, a ‘building’. And ‘building’ was the original sense of the word in English when it acquired it via French fabrique: ‘He had neuer studye in newe fabrykes ne buyldynges’, William Caxton, Golden Legend 1483.
\ \ Remnants of the usage survive in the current sense ‘walls, roof, and floor of a building’. It was not until the mid 18th century that the underlying notion of ‘manufactured material’ gave rise to the word’s main present-day meaning ‘textile’.
\ \ Derivatives include fabricate [18], from Latin fabricāre, and forge.
\ \ Cf.⇒ FORGE

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Fabric — Fab ric, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Fabricked}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Fabricking}.] To frame; to build; to construct. [Obs.] Fabric their mansions. J. Philips. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • fabric — UK US /ˈfæbrɪk/ noun [C or U] ► cloth: »Consumers are demanding lighter, easy to care for fabrics. »Competition from overseas fabric producers forced the company to shed 700 jobs …   Financial and business terms

  • fabric — late 15c., building, thing made, from M.Fr. fabrique (14c.), from L. fabrica workshop, also an art, trade; a skillful production, structure, fabric, from faber artisan who works in hard materials, from PIE *dhabh to fit together. Sense in English …   Etymology dictionary

  • fabric — [n1] cloth, material bolt, fiber, goods, stuff, textile, texture, web; concept 473 fabric [n2] structure building, consistency, constitution, construction, foundation, frame, framework, infrastructure, make up, mold, organization, stamp,… …   New thesaurus

  • fabric — [fab′rik] n. [MFr fabrique < L fabrica, a workshop, trade, product, fabric < faber, a workman < IE base * dhabh , to fit together > OE (ge)dæfte, fit] 1. a) anything constructed or made of parts put together; structure; building b)… …   English World dictionary

  • fabric — index building (structure), frame (structure), structure (composition) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • fabric — ► NOUN 1) material produced by weaving or knitting textile fibres; cloth. 2) a structure or framework, especially the walls, floor, and roof of a building. 3) the essential structure of a system or organization. ORIGIN Latin fabrica something… …   English terms dictionary

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