cambric

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English

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Morning blouse made of cambric

Etymology

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From Cambrai, a French commune where it was manufactured.

Noun

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cambric (countable and uncountable, plural cambrics)

  1. A finely-woven fabric made originally from linen but often now from cotton.
    Synonym: batiste
    • 1634 (first performance), William D’avenant [i.e., William Davenant], The Wits: A Comedie; [], published 1636; republished in Two Excellent Plays: [], London: [] G. Bedel, and T[homas] Collins, [], 1665, →OCLC, Act I, page 1:
      Could a Taff'ta ſcarf, a long Eſtridge vvhing, / A ſtiffe Iron Doublet, and a Brazeel Pole / Tempt thee from Cambrick ſheets, fine active Thighs, / From Caudles vvhere the precious Amber ſvvims?
    • 1851 George Dodd, Charles Knight - Knight's Cyclopædia of the industry of all nations, 1851
      Scotch cambric, now largely manufactured, is a kind of imitation cambric, made from fine hard-twisted cotton.
    • 1954, C. S. Lewis, chapter 14, in The Horse and His Boy, Collins, published 1999:
      His upper tunic was of white cambric, as fine as a handkerchief, so that the bright red tunic beneath it showed through.

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Further reading

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