E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Fus’tian.
Stuff, bombast, pretentious words. Properly, a sort of cotton velvet. (French, futaine; Spanish, fustan, from Fustat in Egypt, where the cloth was first made.) (See BOMBAST; CAMELOT.)
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“Discourse fustian with one’s own shadow.”—Shakespeare: Othello, ii. 3.
“Some scurvy quaint collection of fustian phrases, and uplandish words.”—Heywood: Faire Maide of the Exchange, ii. 2.
