Forms: α. 6 (Calȝecot), callicutt, 6–7 calecut, 6–8 calli-, calicut, 7 calicute, 7–8 callicot. β. 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 Kōḷikōḍu, in Arabic Qaliqūt, 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 F. 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.
α. [c. 1505. Dunbar, Warldis Instabilitie, 62. It micht have cuming in schortar quhyll Fra Calȝecot and the new-fund Yle.]
1541. (July) Lett. Credence of T. Bellenden fr. Jas. V. to Hen. VIII. IX peces of Callicutt claith pertenyng to ane William Blaky in Leith.
1589. Hakluyt, Voy. (1886), I. 3. Of silke and linnen wouen together, resembling something Callicut cloth. Ibid., Voy. (1599), II. I. Ep. Ded. Lapped vp almost an hundred fold in fine calicut-cloth.
β. 1540. Lanc. Wills (1860), II. 151. A surplyse and an elne kalyko cloth.
[1547. Boorde, Introd. Knowl., 142. The newe founde land named Calyco.]
1549. Will. L. ap Rhes (Somerset Ho.). Calocowe clothe.
1605. E. Scot, in Middleton’s Voy. (Hakl. Soc.), App. iii. 165 (Y.). They [the Javanese] weare a kinde of Callico-cloth.
2. Hence: 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.
α. 1622–62. Heylin, Cosmogr., III. (1682), 205. A Smock of Calicute, a kind of linnen cloth here made, and from hence so called.
1678. Tavernier’s Voy. Kingd. Tonquin, xiii. 43. Blue Calicuts. Ibid., Relat. Japon, 58. Chites or painted Calicuts which they call calmendar.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 349/1. Dowlas, Scotch Cloth, Callicot.
1758. Ellis, in Phil. Trans., L. 453. Callicuts are painted with the juice of this shrub.
1789. Coxe, Trav. Switz., I. 30. Their manufactures are coarse callicots and muslins.
β. 1578. Invent., in Drapers’ Dict., 42. iiij yards of Callaga, 6s. 4d. xij yards of Callaca, 12s.
1590. Webbe, Trav. (Arb.), 31. Fine Lawne or Callico thrust down my throate.
1616. Trav. Eng. Pilgr., in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), III. 326. A camel, laden with callicoes.
1665. G. Havers, P. della Valle’s Trav. E. India, 31. A very great Trade of fine Cotton Cloth, or Callico.
1666. Pepys, Diary, 24 Sept. Flags, which I had bought for the Navy, of Calico.
1714. Fr. Bk. Rates, 230. The Arrest … forbidding the Sale or Consumption of painted Callicoes from the East-Indies, or such as are printed or painted at Home.
1719. J. Roberts, Spinster, 347. A tawdry, pie-spotted, flabby, ragged, low-priced thing, called Callicoe … made … by a parcel of Heathens and Pagans, that worship the Devil, and work for a half penny a day.
1740. Johnson, Drake, Wks. IV. 452. Dressed in white cotton or calicoe.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., Callicoes are of divers kinds, plain, printed, painted, stain’d, dyed, chints, muslins, and the like.
1774. Act 14 Geo. III., iii. Instead of the Word Callico, which stands for foreign Callicoes, each piece may be marked with the words British Manufacture.
1860. Warter, Sea-board & Down, II. 22. The wind sounded like the tearing of calico.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, I. 579. It was easy for needy adventurers to buy printed calicoes. Ibid., II. 565. Hung with black lustreless calico.
c. 1841–44. Emerson, Ess. Prudence, Wks. (Bohn), I. 99. Calicoes [cannot] go out of fashion … in the few swift moments … the Yankee suffers … them to remain in his possession.
1863. Life in South, II. 293. Also jeans, cotton-prints—called ‘calicoes’ in America—for dresses.
1872. Bret Harte, Prose & P., I. 40. The furniture was extemporized from packing cases … and covered with gay calico.
3. simple attrib. (or adj.) Of calico (cf. sense 1). Calico ball, a ball where the ladies wear only cotton dresses.
1612. Rates (Scotl.) 294 (Y.). Calico copboord claiths, the piece … xls.
1641. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 24. The men, wearing a large calico mantle yellow coloured.
1796. Campaigns 1793–4, I. II. ii. 101.
| We’ve constructed a camp in the fields, round the farm, | |
| And callicoe sheets keep us decently warm. |
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. xviii. 141. Flaunting in a calico shirt and a pair of silk stockings?
4. Comb., as calico-glazer, -making, -smoother, -trade, -weaving; calico-diaper (see quot.); † calico-lawn, ? a fine quality of calico, lawn of calico or cotton; calico-printer, one whose trade is calico-printing; calico-printing, the art or trade of producing a pattern on calico by printing in colors, in mordants which produce colors on being dyed, or by other process.
1696. J. F., Merchant’s Wareho., 12–3. *Callico-Diaper … called so by reason it is made of Cotton, as the Callicoes are, and is wrought into little figures.
1723. Lond. Gaz., No. 6196/7. Mathew Bacon … *Callico-Glazer.
1809. A. Stewart, in Lockhart, Scott (1839), III. 180. Breaking into the workshop of Peter More, calico-glazer, Edinburgh.
1592[?]. Descr. Carrack Madre de Dios (Y.). The calicos were book-calicos, *calico launes, broad white calicos, fine starched calicos, coarse white calicos, browne coarse calicos.
1683. Lond. Gaz., No. 1791/4. Two striped Muslins or Callico Lawnes.
1859. Smiles, Self-Help, 36. Robert Peel … began the domestic trade of *calico-making.
1706. Lond. Gaz., No. 4264/4. William Shirwin … *Callico-Printer.
1854. Mrs. Gaskell, North & S., xix. One of the half-dozen calico-printers of the time.
1753. Hanway, Trav. (1762), II. I. iii. 15. Of manufactures, sugar-baking and *callicoe-printing are the great articles.
1867. N. & Q., Ser. III. XI. 186/1. In 1676 Calico printing … was invented and practised in London.
1762. Gentl. Mag., 6. We have obstructed them in the *callico trade.
