List of Cloth Terms in the Account Books

bays, baize, beys = a coarse woolen stuff having a long nap.

Bilbao rug = a rough woolen material from Portugal, used as a coverlet.

bugle = hatband decorated with tube-shaped glass beads, usually black.

calico = cotton cloth (Calicut-cloth) imported from the Malabar Coast.

camlet = originally a costly eastern fabric; later for substitutes made of wool, silk, and hair.

canvass, canvas = coarse unbleached cloth made of hemp or flax.

cotton wool = raw wool gathered from the short staple cotton plant (gossypium).

dimity = stout cotton cloth, woven with raised stripes and fancy figures, used undyed for beds and hangings, and occasionally for clothes.

dowlass, dowlas = much-used coarse linen cloth.

duffel, duffield = coarse woolen cloth, having a thick nap or frieze.

ferret = stout cotton or silk tape.

fillet = tape used for headbands; a strip of material used in binding.

friz = frieze = coarse woolen cloth with nap on one side only.

fustian = coarse cloth made of cotton and flax.

galleme, gallome, galloon = narrow braid or ribbon of gold and silver thread, used for trimming.

gimp = a neckerchief, or a silk, cotton, or worsted twist with a cord or wire running through it.

Holland = linen fabric.

incle, inkle = a kind of linen tape or the thread or yarn for weaving it.

jane, jean = twilled cotton cloth; a kind of fustian.

kersey = coarse, narrow cloth woven from long wool, and usually ribbed.

lawn = a kind of fine linen resembling cambric.

linen = cloth woven from flax, and by extension, calico.

Locram, lockram = linens of various qualities.

loomework = apparently cloth woven locally in the Connecticut Valley.

Manchester binding = cotton binding; also Manchester bays.

Mohair = a kind of fine camlet made of goat’s hair.

Peniston, Penistone = coarse Yorkshire woolen cloth used for garments or lining.

Point, points = tie, lace, or string ending with an aglet or metal pendant, used to join parts of a costume, as a doublet to hose.

prunelle, prunella = originally silk, afterwards worsted, used in the uppers of women’s shoes.

red napt cotton = rough, unsheared cotton cloth.

sassenet, sarsenet = fine soft silk material used chiefly for linings.

saatinco, sattinisco = probably satin, a thick closely-textured silk fabric, with a glossy surface.

say = fine woolen cloth resembling serge.

searge, serge = fine woolen cloth used extensively for clothing.

shag = the long and coarse nap of cloth.

stuffe, stuff = material for making garments.

tabby = a general term for a silk taffeta.

taffety, taffeta = light, thin silken cloth.

tammy = fine quality worsted cloth, often glazed.

terry = fabric with loops of pile left uncut.

thrid = thread.

ticking = strong hard linen or cotton material used to make covers to form a mattress or pillow of flock or feathers.

tinsell ribbon = having interwoven silver and gold thread.

Trading cloth = woolen cloth that Pynchon used in the Indian trade, consisting mostly of blue cloth, although red and white materials were also traded. Similar colored shag cottons were also considered trading cloth.

worsted, wted, wosted = closely twisted long-staple wool yarn; also the cloth woven from it.