Forms: 5 tyllete, tillette, 6 tyllet, 7 tillett, -it, 6– tillet, 9 -ot. [app. ad. OF. tellette (14th c. in Godef., Compl.), collateral form of teilete, toilete a wrapper of cloth: see TOILET.]
1. A kind of coarse cloth, used for wrapping up textile fabrics and (formerly) garments; also for making awnings.
1466. Mann. & Household Exp. (Roxb.), 211. Paid to Iohn Felaw for xij. yerdes of tyllete for the spynas.
1530. Palsgr., 281/1. Tyllet to wrap clothe in, toyllette.
1590. Inv. Sir T. Ramsey, in Archæologia, XL. 327. A scarlet cloke faced wth gray with the tillet.
1637. Specif. S. Mason’s Patent, No. 106. The sole dying of buckromes and tillits.
1837. Whittock, etc., Bk. Trades (1842), 246. The tillet, or little cloth, for encasing glazed stuffs intended for a foreign market, was the first approach towards pattern floor-cloth painting.
1904. Times, 5 Sept., 1/2. Mr. Justice Farwell … restrained … the said Defendants … from wrapping up any goods … in lining papers and tillots supplied by the Plaintiffs.
b. A bag made of thin glazed muslin, used as a covering for dress-goods.
1871. in McElrath, Dict. Commerce (Funk).
† 2. A tilt or awning. Obs.
1497. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 110. Cartes with tillettes for shott with all apparelle.
Hence Tilloting, in tilloting cloth, a cloth used as a wrapper, esp. for textile fabrics.
1884. Specif. Tiller’s Patent, No. 2357. Improvements in tillotting cloths.
