fabric

Alternative forms

• fabrick (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from French fabrique, from Latin fabrica (“a workshop, art, trade, product of art, structure, fabric”), from faber (“artisan, workman”). Doublet of forge, borrowed from Old French.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfæb.ɹɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

fabric (countable and uncountable, plural fabrics)

1. (archaic) structure, building
   • Milton

     Anon out of the earth a fabric huge / Rose like an exhalation.

2. (archaic) The act of constructing; construction; fabrication.
   • Milman

     Tithe was received by the bishop […] for the fabric of the churches for the poor.

3. (archaic) The structure of anything; the manner in which the parts of a thing are united; workmanship; texture; make.

   cloth of a beautiful fabric

4. The framework underlying a structure

   the fabric of our lives

   the fabric of the universe

5. A material made of fibers, a textile or cloth.

   cotton fabric

6. (petrology) The appearance of crystalline grains in a rock
7. (computing) Interconnected nodes that look like a textile 'fabric' when diagrammed.

   The Internet is a fabric of computers connected by routers.