homespun

adj

1. (not-comparable)Spun in the home.
2. (not-comparable)Woven in the home.
3. (not-comparable, usually)Made from homespun fabric.

   “homespun country garbs”

   “He became more and more excited; he rose from the sofa, walked up and down the floor with hurried steps and fought with his hands in the air, till the light flickered hither and thither, while the sweeping tail of his long grey home-spun coat described long circles every time he swung himself round and raised himself on his longer leg, for, like Tyrtaeus and Peter Solvold of our parish, he was afflicted with a limp.”

   “The woman was dressed in a long broad kaftanlike homespun shirt decorated with thin strips of reindeer fur, leather braiding, small gleaming plates of metal, and lots of little bells which made a rather pleasant melodic sound at every jolt of the train.”

4. (broadly, not-comparable)Plain and homely; unsophisticated and unpretentious.

   “homespun wisdom”

   “our homespun English proverb”

   “our homespun authors must forsake the field”

   “The McCains, by contrast, dole out such homespun wisdom as "in Arizona, the only way to get around the state is by small private plane" and understand that in this crazy modern world where the typical family owns eleven homes and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on household staff, you can't possibly expect transportation alternatives to gain popularity.”

   “The new cardinal was no theologian – his approach was more homespun – but his commitment to poor people was every bit as strong as that of the liberation theologians. He would simply say he did what the Jesus of the gospels told him to do.”

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Fabric made from homespun yarn. Also, machine made fabrics (usually cottons) similar to homespun fabrics in that solids, plaids, or stripes are created by weaving dyed threads (rather than printing), so that both sides of the fabric look the same.

   “There are four men, heavily bearded and more than a little dirty, and two young women, all of them busy with shovels in or around an opened grave and all dressed identically in shirts and trousers of tattered homespun.”

2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)An unpolished, rustic person.

   “What hempen home-ſpuns haue we ſwaggering here, / So neere the Cradle of the Faierie Queene?”