Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Calico
Cal′i-co
,Noun.
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.]
The importation of printed or stained
. colicoes
appears to have been coeval with the establishment of the East India CompanyBeck (Draper’s Dict. ).
2.
Cotton cloth printed with a figured pattern.
☞ In the United States the term calico is applied only to the printed fabric.
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.
Cal′i-co
,Adj.
Made of, or having the appearance 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.]
Webster 1828 Edition
Calico
CALICO
,Noun.