"puffed flounce, plaited border," c. 1700, folk-etymology alteration (as if fur below) of falbala, from French falbala (17c., cognate with Provençal farbello), from Italian falda "fold, flap, pleat," from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *faldan (from PIE root *pel- (2) "to fold"). As a verb from 1701.
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