Glossary of terms used to describe clothing

Oxford English Dictionary

calamanco: kælamæ;nko. Forms: 6 calamance, 6-9 cali-, 7 calla-, 7-9 callimanco, (9 calamanca), 7- calamanco. [Found also
in Dutch kalamink, kalmink, Ger. kalmank, kalmang, Fr. calmande, Genev. calamandre: of unknown origin. The form has
naturally suggested connexion with med.L. camelaucus, a kind of cap, and a cloth of camel's hair; but evidence of connexion is
wanting. See Du Cange. ]
1. A woollen stuff of Flanders, glossy on the surface, and woven with a satin twill and chequered in the warp, so that the checks are seen on one side only; much used in the 18th c.
calico: kæ;liko. Forms: . 6 (Cal3ecot), callicutt, 6-7 calecut, 6-8 calli-, calicut, 7 calicute, 7-8 callicot. . 6 kalyko, calyco, calocowe, (callaga, -ca), 6-8 callico(e, 7-8 calicoe, 7- calico. [In 16-17th c. also calicut, from the name of the Indian city (sense 1), called in Malayâlam Kolikodu, in Arabic Qaliqut, med.L. (Conti) Collicuthia, Pg. Qualecut (V. de Gama), Calecut (Camoens). It is not clear how the form calico, occurring in 1540 as kalyko, arose; it may have been merely an English corruption; the Fr. calicot has been suggested as the intermediate form, but the age of this is uncertain.]
1. The name of a city on the coast of Malabar; in the 16th c. the chief port, next to Goa, of intercourse between India and Europe; used attrib. in Calicut-cloth, Calico-cloth: see next.
2. a. orig. A general name for cotton cloth of all kinds imported from the East (see quot. 1753); `an Indian stuff made of cotton, sometimes stained with gay and beautiful colours' (J.); subsequently, also, various cotton fabrics of European manufacture (sometimes also with linen warp).
b. Now, in England, applied chiefly to plain white unprinted cotton cloth, bleached or unbleached (called in Scotland and U.S. cotton).
c. in U.S. to printed cotton cloth, coarser than muslin.
callimanco:
1. Obs. form of calamanco
copperas: ko.p<e>ras. Forms: 5-7 coperose, (5 coperosse, coporose, copros(se, 6 coperus, cop(p)erous(e, coporouse,
(copper(r)oost(e), copporose), 6-7 coperas, cop(p)eress(e, -is, -ose, cop(p)oras, -es, -is, cop(p)ras, -es(se, 7 cop(p)erase, -ass, -ice, cop(p)ris, -ice, -ose, 6- copperas. [In 15th c. coperose: cf. Fr. couperose (14th c. in Littré), coupperose, Ital. copparosa, med.L. cuperosa, cuprosa, coporosa, in various early glossaries: see esp. Grimm, s.v. Kupferrose. Diez explained cuperosa, as = *cupri rosa rose of copper, comparing the Gr. name xalkanqon, -oj lit. `flower of copper.' It seems more probable that med.L. cuprosa, cuperosa was simply short for *aqua cuprosa = Ger. kupferwasser, Dutch koperwater, and its association with rosa `rose' merely an etymological fancy. That it was so understood is certain: cf. Kilian (Flemish 1599) `Koper-roose, Koperwater, chalcantum, vitriolum, vulgo cuperosa and coppa rosa'; and obs. Ger. kupferrose = kupferwasser (Henisch); also mod. Dutch koperrood copper-red, obs. Ger. kupferroth, LG. koperrôt. See the many forms in German under
kupferrauch, -rose, -roth, rusz, -wasser, in Grimm. In Fr. , couperose is also applied with more descriptive propriety to the
disease copper nose; so in Ger. `eine kupferrote nase' (Grimm). ]
1. A name given from early times to the protosulphates of copper, iron, and zinc (distinguished as blue, green, and white
copperas respectively); etymologically it belonged properly to the copper salt; but in English use, when undistinguished by attribute or context, it has always been most commonly, and is now exclusively, applied to green copperas, the proto-sulphate of iron or ferrous sulphate (Fe SO4), also called green vitriol, used in dyeing, tanning, and making ink. (The extension of the name beyond its etymological meaning is anterior to its appearance in English, and indeed inherited from Gr. xalkanqon, the description of which by Dioscorides gives prominence to blue vitriol, while its use as shoemaker's ink implies green vitriol; the same is true of Pliny's account of chalcanthum. It is probably that, at all times, the occurrence of composite salts containing a variable proportion of copper and iron, as well as the failure to distinguish between copper and iron pyrites, contributed to the confusion. It has to be remembered also that from the mediæval point of view `copperas' was a species, occurring in various colours, the difference of composition being only vaguely apprehended, and that the phenomenon of the dissolving of iron by a solution of green copperas, with deposition of its copper, was explained as conversion of iron into copper by the mediation of the `copperas', which changed its colour from blue to green in the process.)
crocus: krou.kAs. [a. L. crocus, a. Gr. krokoj the crocus, and its product saffron: app. of Semitic origin; cf. Heb. karkom,

crocus, saffron, Arab. kurkum, saffron, turmeric. See Lacaita, Etymology of Crocus and Saffron, 1886. Not known as an Eng. name to the 16th c. herbalists, though OE. had croh saffron, Ir. and Gael. croch, from Latin .]
1. A genus of hardy dwarf bulbous plants, N.O. Iridaceæ, natives of southern and central Europe, the Levant, and Western Asia, and commonly cultivated for their brilliant flowers, which are usually deep yellow or purple, and appear before the leaves in early spring, or in some species in autumn. The autumnal species, C. sativus, yields saffron.
2. Old Chem. A name given to various yellow or red powders obtained from metals by calcination; as crocus of antimony (crocus antimonii or c. metallorum), a more or less impure oxysulphide of antimony; crocus of copper (c. veneris), cuprous oxide; crocus of iron (c. martis; also in 15th c. crokefer), sesquioxide or peroxide of iron.
3. [var. a coarse linen fabric like a burlap made from flax or hemp, a yellow dye from the crocus or saffron flower, or a coarse linen sacking dyed yellow. used for trousers or shirts, slaves and servants.]
damask: dæ;mask, sb. and a. Forms: 4-7 damaske, -asc, 4- damask; also 5 dameske, 5-6 dammask(e, 7 damasque, -ast; Sc. 5-6 dammas, -es, -ys, 6 domas, 7 damas, -es. [Prob. originally a. AngloFr. *Damasc = Ital. Damasco, L. Damascus proper name of the city; Littré and Hatzfeld have an OFr. Damas of 14th c., whence the Sc. forms above. The French text of Mandeville (Roxb. Club) ch. xiv. has Damasce.]
1. A rich silk fabric woven with elaborate designs and figures, often of a variety of colours. Also applied to figured materials of silk and wool, silk and cotton, or worsted or cotton only, used for furniture-covering, curtains, etc. `True damasks are wholly of silk, but the term is now applied to any fabric of wool, linen, or cotton, woven in the manner of the first damasks' (Beck, Draper's Dict.).
2. A twilled linen fabric richly figured in the weaving with designs which show up by opposite reflexions of light from the
surface; used chiefly for table-linen.
dimity: di.miti. Forms: 5 demyt, 6 dimite, 7 dimmety, dimmity, dimetty, 8 demity, dimitty, 8- dimity. [In 15-16th c. demyt, dimite, a. Ital. dimito `a kind of coarse cotton or flanell' (Florio 1598), `a kind of course linzie-wolzie' (ibid. 1611) = med.L. dimitum (12th c. in Du Cange), ad. Gr. dimitoj of double thread, sb. dimity, f. di-, dij twice + mitoj thread of the warp. It is not certain how the final -y arose: could it represent Ital. pl. dimiti? Cf. the plural in Du Cange's quot.: `amita, dimitaque, et trimita', explained to mean fabrics woven with one, two, or three threads respectively. The relation to these of the Persian word dimyati, explained as `a kind of cotton cloth, dimity', which has the form of a derivative of Dimyat, Damietta, is not clear.] A stout cotton fabric, woven with raised stripes or fancy figures; usually employed undyed for beds and bedroom hangings, and sometimes for garments.
[a cotton or fustian cloth with ridges, generally fine, sometimes described as silk or satin.]
drab:
[var. in color, usually a dull, yellowish brown; in fabric, a thick, heavy woolen of a dull color.]
drugget: drA.get. Also 6 Sc. droggitt, drogatt, 8-9 druggit. [a. Fr. droguet (1555 in Hatz.-Darm.), thence, prob., Sp. droguete, Ital. droghetto, Ger. droguett. Ulterior origin unknown. Littré suggests derivation from drogue drug as `a stuff of little value'; some English writers have assumed a derivation from Drogheda in Ireland, but this is mere wanton conjecture, without any historical basis.]
1. a. Formerly, a kind of stuff, all of wool, or mixed of wool and silk or wool and linen, used for wearing apparel.
b. Now, a coarse woollen stuff used for floor-coverings, table-cloths, etc.
duffill: dA.f'l. Also 7-8 duffield, 7-9 duffil. (The more common form is now duffle.) [Named from Duffel, a town of Brabant, between Antwerp and Mechlin.]
1. A coarse woollen cloth having a thick nap or frieze.
fustian: fA.stian, sb. and a. Forms: 3 fustane, 4-5 fustain, 4 fustayn, 4-6 fustiane, -yan(e, fusten(e, (5 fustien, fustyn, 6 fustin, fuschain, fustheyn, fushtyayne, fustyam, fusteen, fosten, Sc. fustean), 5-7 fustion, -yon, 4- fustian. [a. OFr. fustaigne, -aine, mod.Fr. futaine fem. = Pr. fustani, Sp. fustan, Pg. fustao, Ital. fustagno, repr. med.L. (pannus) fustaneus, (tela) fustanea; conjecturally derived from Fostat, the name of a suburb of Cairo where cloth was manufactured.]
1. Formerly, a kind of coarse cloth made of cotton and flax. Now, a thick, twilled, cotton cloth with a short pile or nap, usually dyed of an olive, leaden, or other dark colour.
hempen: he.mpen, a. (sb.) Also 4-5 hempyn(e, -pene, (6-7 hempton, 7 hemton), 6-8 hemping. [f. hemp sb. + -en4. Not

recorded in OE.; but cf. OHG. hanafîn (Ger. hänfen), LG. hempen.]
1. Made of hemp; of or pertaining to hemp. hempen homespun, homespun cloth made of hemp; hence, one clad in such cloth, one of rustic and coarse manners.
kersey: Now rare. Also 5 kerseye, 5-6 carsey, -say, 6 carsy(e, -soye, -ssey, -esye, cassaye, kersay, karsey, 6-7 karsie, carsie, -zie, 6-8 kersie, -sy, 7 kerzie. [Possibly named from the village of Kersey in Suffolk, (cf. Kendal, Worsted, etc., as names of fabrics); though evidence actually connecting the original manufacture of the cloth with that place has not been found. See note below.]
1. A kind of coarse narrow cloth, woven from long wool and usually ribbed. [Note. Historically the evidence is in favour of the name being of English origin; Caersige was the OE. form of Kersey in Suffolk (Earle Land Charters 484). Panni cersegi were manufactured in England in 1262; Kerseyes were important English exports in 1390; drap de Kersy is mentioned along with other fabrics named from places in 1399; carisies d'Angleterre are mentioned in French in 1630 (Godef. Compl.), and kentischer kirsey in German in 1716 (Grimm). At an early date the word appears in OF. as carizé, carisé (1453 in Godef. Compl.), later carisie and carisel. It is also common in MDu. as kerseye, kaersay, carcey, etc. (mod.Du. karsaai), and is found in G. as kirsei, kirschei (earlier karisey); also Da. kersei, kirsei, and Sw. kersing. It. and Sp. carisea are app. from the older F. forms.]
nankeen: nænki.n, sb. (and a.) Also 8 nankein, 9 -kin, -quin, and with capital initial. [f. Nankin or Nanking, `southern

capital', the name of the chief city of the province of Kiangsu in China. Cf. Fr. and Dutch nankin, G. nanking.]
1. A kind of cotton cloth, originally made at Nanking from a yellow variety of cotton, but now extensively manufactured from ordinary cotton and dyed yellow. Also attrib. with cloth.
osnaburg: Also with lower-case initial. Forms: 6 Osenbreges, Ossenbrydge, Ostenbriges, Ozenbridg(e, (Osburow), 7 Osenbrigs, 8 Oz-, Osnabrigs, -brug, Ozenbrigs; 7 Ossenburgs, 8 Osnaburgh, 8-9 Osnaburg. [Named from Osnabrück (in later Eng. corruptly Osnaburg), a town and district in North Germany, noted for its manufacture of linen.]
1. A kind of coarse linen originally made in Osnabrück
sagathy: Also 8 sagathea, saggathe, sagathee, 8-9 segathy, 9 sagathoy, -thay. [In Fr. sagatis (Boiste 1840; not in Littré or Hatz.-Darm;), Sp. sagatí; of unknown origin.]
1. A woollen stuff (see quot. 1727-41)
shalloon: Salu.n. Forms: 7-9 shaloon, 8 saloon, 7- shalloon. [a. Fr. chalon, which had been earlier adopted as chalon, q.v.

Cf. MHG. schalûne, mod.G. schalaune.]
1. A closely woven woollen material chiefly used for linings.
taminy: Obs. Prob.
1. a misprint or misreading of tamin or tammy
tammy: tæ;mi, sb.1 Also 7 tammey, 8 tamy. [Appears to be identical with obs. Fr. tamise `étoffe de laine lustrée' cited by Littré from a letter patent of 22 July, 1780 (cf; cerise, cherry); but this may have been an adaptation of the Eng. word, which was in use a century earlier. It has also been suggested to be a corruption of tamin, or a deriv. of Fr. estame worsted, estamet cloth-rash (Cotgr.).]
1. A fine worsted cloth of good quality, often with a glazed finish. Much mentioned in 17th and 18th centuries, but app. obs. before 1858. The name was revived as a trade-term in the late 19th c.: see quot. 1876.
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