from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A coarse, brightly printed cloth.
- n. Chiefly British A plain white cotton cloth, heavier than muslin.
- n. An animal, such as a cat, having a coat that is mottled in tones of white with red and black.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. Having a pattern of red and contrasting areas, resembling the color of calico cloth.
- n. A kind of rough cloth, often printed with a bright pattern.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. Plain white cloth made from cotton, but which receives distinctive names according to quality and use
- n. Cotton cloth printed with a figured pattern.
- 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.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Properly, any white cotton cloth: as, unbleached calico, shirting-calico, etc. Calico was first manufactured in India, whence it was introduced into Europe.
- n. In the United States, printed cotton cloth of a coarser quality than muslin.
- Made of calico: as, a calico gown.
- Resembling printed cotton or calico; spotted; piebald: as, a calico horse.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. coarse cloth with a bright print
- adj. made of calico or resembling calico in being patterned
- adj. having sections or patches colored differently and usually brightly
To the lady asking about leggings, I wear leggings under all my dresses; long and warm for winter, and 'Petti Pants' (like wide bermuda shorts but in calico with an elastic waist) for summer. over these a slip (or petiblouse if wearing a skirt) and I'm set for the day.
And in the meantime, our calico is still sitting on her shelf, waiting for a paycheck.
In America, it is sometimes called the calico cat.
But there I find two figures in calico wrappers, with bare red arms akimbo, a basket of wet clothes in front of each, and only one empty clothes-line between them.
She robbed the windows of their lawn and muslin curtains, replacing them with gaudy calico from the trade-store, and made herself several gowns.
Most of the latter were encased in calico bags, which could be hung in the shade, secure from either ants or flies, the remainder, packed in tins, being stowed away easily in the corner of one of the tents.
Some were dressed in calico suits, trimmed with little ruffles – ruffles round the bottom of the pants, ruffles down the front and round the tails of the coats; and on both sides of the button-holes of their vests were rows of small ruffles.
I've always thought the multi-colored kitties like that one are called calico or sometimes, like when they have more white on them like your pretty, namesless kitty of the day, called tortiseshell.
The calico is the smallest and in many ways the stupidest.
I do know the calico is a female, since genetics dictate.