Calico \Cal"i*co\, n.; pl. Calicoes. [So called because first
imported from Calicut, in the East Indies: cf. F. calicot.]
1. Plain white cloth made from cotton, but which receives
distinctive names according to quality and use, as, super
calicoes, shirting calicoes, unbleached calicoes, etc.
[Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
The importation of printed or stained colicoes
appears to have been coeval with the establishment
of the East India Company. --Beck
(Draper's
Dict. ).
[1913 Webster]
2. Cotton cloth printed with a figured pattern.
[1913 Webster]
Note: In the United States the term calico is applied only to
the printed fabric.
[1913 Webster]
Calico bass (Zool.), an edible, fresh-water fish (Pomoxys
sparaides) of the rivers and lake of the Western United
States (esp. of the Misissippi valley.), allied to the
sunfishes, and so called from its variegated colors; --
called also calicoback, grass bass, strawberry bass,
barfish, and bitterhead.
Calico printing, the art or process of impressing the
figured patterns on calico.
[1913 Webster]
|