calico
UK /ˈkæ.lɪ.kəʊ/ · US /ˈkæ.lɪ.koʊ/ noun, adjective
Forms calicos calicoes callico
- noun (textiles) A kind of rough cloth made from unbleached and not fully processed cotton, often printed with a bright pattern.
- noun (uncountable, botany) The plant disease caused by Tobacco mosaic virus.
- adjective Made of calico or resembling the color of calico cloth, having a pattern of red and contrasting areas; variegated. “The calico cat had distinctive red and dark markings.”
- adjective Having red, brunette, and blond hair colors, resembling the fur of a calico cat.
Synonyms
tortoiseshell motley multicolor multi-color multicolour multi-colour multicolored multi-colored multicoloured multi-coloured painted particolored particoloured piebald pied varicolored varicoloured
Etymology
From Calicut, from where the cloth was originally exported, from Malayalam കോഴിക്കോട് (kōḻikkōṭŭ, “Kozhikode”), from കോഴി (kōḻi, “palace”) + കോട് (kōṭŭ, “fortified palace”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.]
- noun Cotton cloth printed with a figured pattern.
- adjective Made of, or having the apperance of, calico; --often applied to an animal, as a horse or cat, on whose body are large patches of a color strikingly different from its main color. [Colloq. U. S.]
Etymology [So called because first imported from Calicut, in the East Indies: cf. F. calicot.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “calico”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details