Name of a town in the south of Wiltshire, noted since the reign of Queen Elizabeth for the manufacture of carpets: applied to † (a) a kind of cloth, (b) a carpet of which the manufacture resembles that of Brussels carpet but differing in having the rib cut so as to produce a velvet pile.

1

1773.  Pennsylv. Gaz., 21 April, 1/1. Fine broadcloths, cassimers, saggathies, and Wiltons. Ibid. (1774), 10 Aug. Suppl. 2/2. Wilton and Scotch carpets.

2

1776.  Pennsylv. Even. Post, 21 May, 256/2. A brick coloured Wilton coattee.

3

1889.  Conan Doyle, Micah Clarke, xxiii. As soft and velvety as a Wilton carpet.

4

1904.  Bradbury, Carpet Manuf., i. 43. The difference in shade was greatest in Wilton and Velvet pile structures. Ibid., iv. 127. The wire used for Wilton is usually deeper and therefore produces a loftier pile than Brussels.

5