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.
1390. Earl Derby’s Exp. (Camden), 89. Pro iijbus vlnis et di. de kersey.
1481. Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.), 17. Item, half yerd kersey for my lady.
1502. Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot., II. 198. For iij elne quhit carsay to be ane cote to the King xiijs. vjd.
1543–4. Old City Acc. Bk., in Archæol. Jrnl., XLIII. For iij quarters of yallow carssey for hose xvd.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 443. The Sunne … shineth aswel vpon course carsie, as cloth of tissue.
1607. Rowlands, Dr. Merrieman (1609), 6. The Stockings that his clownish Legges did fit, Were Kersie to the calfe, and t’other knit.
1724. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), II. 170. Her stockings were of Kersy green As tight as ony silk.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), I. 164. English broad-cloth, and red Kersey they highly esteemed.
1834. Ht. Martineau, Moral, I. 17. A substantial petticoat of serge or cloak of kersey.
2. With a and pl. † a. A piece of kersey of a definite size. Obs. b. A make or variety of kersey (chiefly in pl.).
In the 16–17th c. kerseys are commonly contrasted with cloths or broad-cloths; the size of the latter was fixed by the statute of 1465 as 24 yds. long by 2 wide, while a kersey was only 18 yds. long and a yard and a nail in width. The act of 1552 enumerates various kinds of kerseys, as ordinary, sorting, Devonshire (called dozens), and check kerseys, and fixes their length as between 17 and 18 yards; in 1557 this was reduced to between 16 and 17. About 1618 we find three kersies reckoned as equal to one cloth (see CLOTH 8).
1465. Act 4 Edw. IV., c. 1. Ordeignez est … que chescun drap appelle Kerseie … conteigne en longeure xviij aulnes … & en laeure une aulne & la naile [etc.].
1517. Act Com. Counc. 8 Hen. VIII. Broad-Cloths, Carsies, Cottons, Bridgewater Frizes, Dosseins, or any other manner of Cloth made of wool.
1545. Brinklow, Compl., ii. (1874), 12. Demand the clothyer, if he lyued not better whan he sold … his carseys for xxij or xxiij pownd the pack.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 127. Also we had three kintals of cotten wooll for a carsie.
1603. Breton, Poste with Packet, D iij. I have sent you over fourscore broadcloathes and thirty carzies.
1769. De Foe’s Tour Gt. Brit., III. 148. The great Demand of Kerseys for cloathing the Armies abroad.
1810. J. T., in Risdon’s Surv. Devon, p. xxiv. The Devonshire kersies were … in great request, and were generally known by the name of Tiverton kersies.
† c. pl. = sense 1. Obs.
1567. in Hay Fleming, Mary Q. of Scots (1897), 506. Item to be cotte and hoyss of blew carsis vj elle.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 146. Short wide stockings of English cloth or Kersies.
3. pl. Trousers made of kersey.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., I. ix. Girt with thick double-milled kerseys; half buried under shawls and broadbrims.
1864. J. Payn, Lost Sir Massingberd, 84. He was dressed in a blue lapelled coat, light waistcoat, and kerseys.
4. attrib. or as adj. Made of kersey.
1577. Harrison, England, II. vii. (1877), I. 172. An Englishman … contented himselfe with his fine carsie hosen.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., II. 41. Let the same runne through a course white karsey gellie bagge.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., IX. xlvii. (1612), 218. Blacke karsie stockings.
1714. Gay, Sheph. Week, II. 37. Thy neckcloth … o’er thy Kersey Doublet spreading wide.
1822. Scott, Nigel, xvii. The old gentleman in the kersey hood.
† b. fig. Plain, homely. Obs.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 413. Henceforth my woinge minde shall be exprest In russet yeas and honest kersie noes.
5. Comb., as kersey-clothier, maker.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1010/2. Now it is cheeflie inhabited with merchants, kersie-clothiers, and all sorts of artificers.
1598. Stow, Surv. London (1754), II. V. ix. 267/1. Cloth and Kersy making decayed.
Hence † Kersey v., to clothe in kersey. rare–1.
1627–47. Feltham, Resolves, I. xxviii. 94. When the sun-bak’d Peasant goes to feast it with a Gentleman, he washes, and brushes, and kersies himself in his holy day cloathes.
[Note. Historically the evidence is in favor 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 carisey); also Da. kersei, kirsei, and Sw. kersing. It. and Sp. carisea are app. from the older F. forms.
1262. in Gross, Gild Merch., II. 4. (Gild Merchant of Andover) Memorandum de illis qui ponunt lanam de Ispania in pannis cersegis [mispr. tersegis].
1390. Rolls of Parlt., III. 281/2. Les liges du Roialme qe amesnent une manere de Marchandise appellez Kerseyes as parties de dela. Ibid., 282/1. Touchant l’envoye des ditz Kerseyes franchement. Ibid. (1399), III. 437. Nul Drap de Kersy, Kendale-cloth, Frise de Coventree, Coggeware, ne nulle autre estreit ne remenant d’Engleterre, ne Drap de Gales, ne soloient … paier nul Coket ne autre Custume.]
