Obs. Also 6 capha.
1. A rich silk cloth, apparently similar to damask, much used in the 16th c.
1531. Wardrobe Acc. Hen. VIII., 18 May, White caffa for the Kinges grace.
1539. Will of J. Hewes (Somerset Ho.). A doblet of Satten wt slevys of Caffa.
1552. in Strype, Eccl. Mem., II. II. II. xiv. 359. The said bed-maker received … twenty-two yards and three quarters of crimson capha for a damask to the same bed.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1290/1. Ouer the first loome was written, the weauing of worsted;… ouer … the sixt, the weauing of caffa.
1641. Cavendish, Negot. Wolsey, in Beck, Draper’s Dict., 41. Rich stuffs of silk in whole pieces of all colours, as velvet, satin, damask, caffa … and others not in my remembrance.
2. A kind of painted cotton cloth made in India, and occurring in commerce in the 18th c.
1750. Beawes, Lex Mercat. (1752), 730. And some others [i.e., places] dependant on Caffa, which serves them for an Almagazen.
1810. Encycl. Brit., V. 49. Caffa … painted cotton cloths, manufactured in the East Indies, and sold at Bengal.
