[In mod.F. challis, chalys, chaly: but the name is app. of Eng. origin, and not improbably from the surname Challis.]
A fine silk and worsted fabric, very pliable and without gloss, used for ladies’ dresses, ‘introduced at Norwich about 1832, where it speedily became fashionable’ (Beck, Draper’s Dict.). Also attrib.
1833. Sydney Herald, 14 Jan., 3/3. These British Challis, as they are termed, are manufactured from the finest description of this Wool or Hair [Angora], forming the most costly dresses for ladies ever made from woolen material.
1849. Blackw. Mag., LXVI. 476. Broad cloth and silks, challis and shawls.
1876. Miss Braddon, J. Haggard’s Dau., I. vi. 175. She wore a flowered-challis gown.
1882. Beck, Draper’s Dict., Challis was made on a similar principle to the Norwich crape, only thinner and softer, composed of much finer materials, and instead of a glossy surface, as in Norwich crapes, the object was to produce it without gloss, and very pliable and clothy.
Hence Challis-printer (Simmonds, Comm. Dict.).
