cambricn.
/ˈkambrɪk/, /ˈkeɪmbrɪk/, U.S. /ˈkeɪmbrɪk/ a. A kind of fine white linen, originally made at Cambray in Flanders. (Also applied to an imitation made of hard-spun cotton yarn.)
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > cotton > [noun] > in imitation of other fabric or material
cambric1530
nettle-cloth1858
Victoria crape1877
leatheroid1882
flannelette1887
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from flax, hemp, or jute > [noun] > linen > types of > fine
chaiselc1275
sendala1300
Raines1340
lakec1386
Irish1397
chaunselc1400
cloth of Rainesa1449
sindonc1450
sindonyc1450
umple1457
cambric1530
slyre1621
cuttanee1622
kenting1657
gulix1696
cambresine1750
Moygashel1931
1530 Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VIII 29 Oct. in S. W. Beck Draper's Dict. xxiij elles of cameryk for vj shirtes for the King.
?1577 F. T. Debate Pride & Lowlines sig. Biiii His shirt had bands and ruffe of pure Cambrick.
1578 Royal Inv. 232 (Jam.) Ane quaiff of camorage with twa cornettis.
1581 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1597) §113 The wearing of coastelie Cleithing of Silkes..Cammeraige.
a1586 Maitland Poems (1786) 326 (Jam.) Of fynest camroche thair fuk saillis.
1597 P. Lowe Art Chirurg. (1634) 367 Cover it with a linnen cloth, or for persons of higher dignitie take layre or camerige.
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 478 Cameric, Calecut &c. had..their denomination from the places where they were first invented.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) i. iii. 86 I would your Cambrick were sensible as your finger. View more context for this quotation
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 552. ⁋1 The most delicate cambricks, muslins, and linens.
1737 G. Berkeley Querist: Pt. III (new ed.) §239 Diapers are made in one Town..in another Cambricks.
1875 R. Hunt & F. W. Rudler Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) I. 675 Linen cambric..manufactured..from power-spun flax..frequently called cambric muslin.
b. As the material of handkerchiefs.
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1886 Sat. Rev. 6 Mar. 328 It is not our habit..to flourish cambric over the woes of any one.
Compounds
C1. attributive.
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1579–80 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 98 Frenche camarike ruffes.
1716 J. Gay Trivia iii. 58 Cambrick Handkerchiefs reward the Song.
1793 J. Beresford in W. Roberts Looker-on No. 76. 607 A cambrick trophy of former achievements.
1869 H. B. Stowe Oldtown Folks i. 2 Israel Scran's store, where everything was sold, from hoe-handles up to cambric needles.
C2.
cambric tea n. U.S. a drink composed mainly of hot milk and water, given to children in place of tea.
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1888 Union Signal (Chicago) 21 Jan. 3 [She] gave me a vast easy chair to sit in..and offered me tea, cambric tea to be sure, but in a beautiful cup.
1944 Greeley (Colorado) Daily Tribune 28 Sept. 6/4 Many children dearly love cambric tea, which is made by pouring about two tablespoons of weak tea into a cup of hot milk and adding a dash of sugar.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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