Cloth sb.

Forms: 1 cláð, 1–4 claþ, 3 cloð, 4 cloþ, 4– cloth, (4 cloþt, 4–5 cloþe, clooþ, clooth, 5 cloiþ, 4–7 clothe, 6–8 cloath). North. 3–5 clath, 4–5 klath, clathe; Sc. 5–6 clayth, -t, 5– claith. Also 4 cleth. [OE. cláþ, corresp. to OFr. klâth, klâd, klêth (mod.Fris. Saterl. klâth, NFris. klâid, WFris. klaed, EFris. klêd, Wangaroog, klêt); MDu. cleet, pl. clêde, Du. and LG. kleed (klêd), MHG. kleit (kleides), Ger. kleid. Unknown in OS., OHG. and Gothic; its general diffusion through the German dialects appears to date about the middle of the 12th c. The ON. form klæði (whence Norw. and Da. klæde, Sw. kläde) does not correspond in vowel or ending to the WGer. (which would require kleið in ON.); its history is obscure. Beside OE. cláþ, which was the source alike of midl. and south. cloth, clothes, and north. clath, claith, pl. clathis, claise, a form clǽþ is recorded once (see 1 below); if genuine (which is doubtful), this may be the source of the north. ME. cleth, clethis, clese, which have otherwise been referred to a Norse origin.

  The original pl. cláðas, is directly represented by the existing CLOTHES, q.v.; this is now restricted to the sense ‘garments’; for other senses, cloths has gradually come into use since c. 1600, though the complete differentiation of clothes and cloths belongs to the 19th c., cloaths being a prevalent spelling of both in the 18th c.

  The etymology and even the primary sense of OTeut. *klaiþ- are uncertain. The former is prob. to be sought in the Teut. vb. stem klĭ-, klai-, to stick (CLAY, CLEAN, CLEAM), but whether the name was applied to cloth as a substance felted or made to stick together, or to a cloth as a thing to be attached or made to cling to the body, is doubtful. The earliest known uses of OE. cláþ are not for the material (a sense hardly evidenced in OE.), but for ‘a cloth’ as a thing to wrap or wind about the body; from this primitive rudiment of attire, we pass naturally on the one hand to the more fully developed ‘clothes’ or garments, and on the other to the material of which all such articles are composed.]

  I.  With a in sing. Plural cloths, formerly clothes.

  1.  A piece of pliable woven or felted stuff, suitable for wrapping or winding round, spreading or folding over, drying, wiping, or other purpose; swaddling or winding cloth, wrap, covering, veil, curtain, handkerchief, towel, etc. = L. pannus.

[a. 800:  see b.]

c. 890.  K. Ælfred, Bæda, III. xi. (Bosw.). Heo þa moldan on claðe bewand [inligatam panno].

a. 1000.  Christ (Gr.), 725. He in binne wæs in cildes hiw claðum biwunden.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 274. Awring þurh claþ. Ibid., II. 260. Do on clæþ.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., John xix. 40. Hiȝ namon þæs hælendes lichaman and bewundon hine mid linenum claðe.

c. 1205.  Lay., 17699. Ane cule of ane blake claðe.

1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 7. Yt wolde a rere And bere vp grete cloþes.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 16767 + 92. Þe clothe þat in þe temple was, In middes it clef in twoo. Ibid. (c. 1340), 15299 (Trin.). Crist … wesshe alle her feet bidene And wiþ his clooþ aftirward wipud hem ful clene.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. i. (1495), 552. On a whyte clothe.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 6204. A chariot full choise … couert with a cloth all of clene gold.

1520.  R. Elyot, in T. Elyot, Gov. (1883), App. I. 312. I will that John Mychell … have a gowne cloth.

1530.  Palsgr., 206/1. Clothe to put on a herce, poille.

1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., I. iv. 157. This Cloth thou dipd’st in blood of my sweet Boy.

1614.  Markham, Cheap Husb., I. i. (1668), 5. Rub all his body and legs over with dry cloaths.

1672.  W. P., Compl. Gunner, I. ix. 12. Pour it [the Lixivium] into wooden Vessels that are broad, and cover them over with Cloaths.

1810.  Southey, Kehama, XV. 10. The cloth which girt his loins.

1841.  Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 122. Having a cloth round the waist.

1887.  The Star, 10 Dec., 4/1. To give a cloth as a present is a very common thing in India.

Mod.  Bring a cloth to wipe it up. Ricks protected by waterproof cloths.

  b.  With attribute expressing purpose: as altar-, barm-, board-, bolt-, bolting-, chrism-, loin-, neck-, table-cloth, etc. See these words.

  To this head belong the earliest recorded examples of the word, among which are OE. cildcláð child-cloth, swaddling cloth, flyhteclað patch.

a. 800.  Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.), 491. Commisura (= patch) flycticlað. Ibid., 623. Cunae, cildclaðas.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gl. (Wr.-W. 124/30), Cune, cildclaðes. Ibid., 127/2. Mappula bearmclað.

  2.  spec. = TABLE-CLOTH: a covering for a table, particularly that spread on it when it is ‘laid’ for a meal.

c. 1300.  Beket, 691. Hi leide bord and spradde cloth.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, V. 388. [Douglas] fond the met all reddy grathit Vith burdis set and clathis laid.

c. 1400.  Ywaine & Gaw., 758. A clene klath, and brede tharone.

1552.  Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion. The Table hauyng at the Communion tyme a fayre white lynnen clothe vpon it.

1650.  R. Stapylton, Strada’s Low-C. Warres, I. 6. When the Cloth was taken away after dinner.

1672.  R. Wild, Declar. Lib. Consc., 3. My Wife was laying the cloth.

1727.  Philip Quarll (1814), 32. Laid the cloth.

c. 1850.  Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 482. Supper was ready, and the cloth was spread.

1870.  E. Peacock, Ralf Skirl., III. 161. Soon after the cloth was drawn.

  3.  A sail (obs.). b. The sails of a ship collectively; ‘canvas.’

c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., C. 105. Gederen to þe gyde ropes, þe grete cloþ falles.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 9531. Fyve hundrith … shippes [were] Consumet full cleane, clothes & other.

1651.  S. Sheppard, Epigr., II. xix. 27. Make all the cloth you can, haste, haste away, The Pirate will o’retake you if you stay.

1653.  H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., iv. § 2. 10. Our best advice was, to sail the rest of the night with as little cloth as might be…. We clapt on all our cloth.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v., When a ship has broad sails they say she spreads much cloth.

  c.  One of the several breadths of canvas of which a sail is composed.

1674.  T. Miller, Modellist (1676), 4. You are to place your middle Cloth first in a top-sail.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Kk b. The edges of the cloths, or pieces, of which a sail is composed, are generally sewed together with a double seam.

1882.  Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 10. A cloth, a whole strip of canvas; eighteen inches to two feet in breadth.

  d.  in combination applied to various pieces of canvas used on board a ship, as MAST-, QUARTER-, WAIST-CLOTH, etc.

  e.  To shake (have) a cloth in the wind: to get too near to the wind, so that the sails shiver; fig. to be ragged in clothing; to be slightly intoxicated (cf. ‘to be three sheets in the wind’). slang.

1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, xxxix. I found all my family well and hearty; but they all shook a cloth in the wind with respect to toggery.

1836.  E. Howard, R. Reefer, xliii. As the seamen say, they all had got a cloth in the wind—the captain two or three.

  4.  Cloth of estate, state: a cloth spread over a throne or other seat of dignity; a canopy; a baldachin.

1523.  Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 484. Under a glorious cloth of astate.

1540.  Act 31 Hen. VIII., c. 10. No person (except only the Kings children) shal at any time hereafter … presume, to sit or haue place at any side of the cloth of estate in the Parliament chamber.

1650.  R. Stapylton, Strada’s Low-C. Warres, X. 19. Whether the King would allow him place, as a Prince-Infanta, within the Cloth of State.

1774.  Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, II. xvi. 405. He dined both in the hall, and in his privy chamber, under a cloth of estate.

  † 5.  Painted cloth: a hanging for a room painted or worked with figures, mottoes or texts; tapestry.

1542.  Boorde, Dyetary (1870), 298. The chamber … that the madde man is in, let there be no paynted clothes.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., IV. ii. 28. Slaues as ragged as Lazarus in the painted Cloth. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., V. x. 47. Set this in your painted cloathes.

1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Tapis, As deafe as an Image in a painted cloth.

1654.  R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 171. That Alexander was a Souldier, painted cloths will confesse, the painter dareth not leave him out of the Nine Worthies.

  † 6.  The CANVAS on which a picture is painted.

1695.  Dryden, trans. Dufresnoy’s Art Paint., Pref. This idea, which we may call the goddess of painting and of sculpture, descends upon the marble and the cloth, and becomes the original of these arts.

1762–71.  H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), III. 252. A portrait-painter … his price was but five guineas for ³/₄ cloth.

1825.  Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 1198. One of the front show-cloths [of a booth at a fair] represented one of the fights.

  7.  Theat. The CURTAIN that separates the auditorium from the stage.

1881.  P. Fitzgerald, World Behind the Scenes, 34. Under the old system, where a simple ‘cloth’ quietly glided down, this impression was not left.

1887.  H. Irving, in Pall Mall Gaz., 11 Jan., 2/1. We can take our ‘cloths’ right up, instead of having to roll them.

  † 8.  A definite quantity or length of woven fabric; a ‘piece.’ Obs.

1469.  Househ. Ord., 105. For the Chamberlayne, hedde officers, knyghtes & ladyes … iii clothes; price the clothe viiil.

1483.  Act 1 Rich. III., c. 8 § 4. Every hole wolen Cloth called brode Cloth … shall … hold and conteyn in leenght xxiiij yerdes … every half Cloth of the seid hole Cloth … holde and conteyne xij yerdis in leynght.

1538.  in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. App. lxxxix. 248. I was wont to sel for most part every yere iiij or v hundred clothes to strangers … as yet … I have sold but xxij clothes.

a. 1618.  Raleigh, Rem. (1661), 192. There hath been … transported … about 50000 cloaths, counting three Kersies to a cloath.

1641.  W. Hakewill, Libertie of Subject, 93. A sack of Wool did commonly make foure short clothes.

1660.  T. Willsford, Scales Commerce, I. I. 10. Admit 15 Clothes or Pieces were sold for 340l.

1721.  Lond. Gaz., No. 6004/3. Two Tentors … the one for two Cloths, and the other for one Cloth and one half.

  II.  As a material: Without a in sing. (except when meaning ‘a kind of cloth,’ in which sense ‘cloths’ occurs in pl.).

  9.  A name given, in the most general sense, to every pliant fabric woven, felted, or otherwise formed, of any animal or vegetable (or even mineral) filament, as of wool, hair, silk, the fibers of hemp, flax, cotton, asbestos, spun glass, wire, etc. But when used without qualification or contextual specification, usually understood to mean a woollen fabric such as is used for wearing apparel. Here again, it is sometimes specifically applied to a plain-wove woollen fabric, as distinguished from a twill.

  To this most specific sense belong the terms BROADCLOTH and NARROW-CLOTH, q.v., the ordinary black-cloth used for ‘dress’ clothes, clerical attire, etc., and the blue, scarlet, green, or other ‘cloth,’ of uniforms and liveries.

  [Early quots. doubtful: c. 1000 is prob. sense 1; c. 1175 may be sense 11.]

[c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. ix. 16. Ne deþ witodlice nan man niwes claðes scyp on eald reaf.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 53. Monie of þas wimmen … claþeð heom mid ȝeoluwe claþe þet is þes deofles helfter.]

c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1742. Frokkes of fyn cloþ.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 444. Cloth þat cometh fro þe weuyng is nouȝt comly to were, Tyl it is fulled, [etc.].

1515.  Barclay, Egloges, IV. (1570), C. iv/3. Englande hath cloth, Burdeus hath store of wine.

1552.  Abp. Hamilton, Catech., 89 a. Ane tailyeour can nocht mak ane garment bot of clayth.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 692. He that could have it neyther of Golde nor of Silver, had it of silke or cloth.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., II. iv. 48. Like a Miser spoyle his Coat, with scanting A little Cloth.

1632.  Sanderson, 12 Serm., 446. The richest silkes, and furres, and dyes, are as lawfull for vs, as cloath, and leather.

1663.  Pepys, Diary, 22 Sept. My present care is … a new black cloth suit, and coate and cloake.

1705.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4095/2. Coarse Yorkshire-Cloth … proper for Cloathing Soldiers, and the poorer sort of People.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Vanderput & S., ii. 35. There would always be blue cloth in the market.

1856.  Emerson, Eng. Traits, Ability, Wks. (Bohn), II. 44. A dye which is more lasting than the cloth.

1864.  Derby Mercury, 7 Dec., 2/5. The outer shell of the coffin was of oak, covered with black cloth, and upon the breast-plate was an inscription recording the name and age of the deceased.

Mod.  A cloth coat and Tweed trousers.

  b.  with qualification, or contextual specification.

1480.  Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxv. No clothe … wrought out of England as clothe of gold, of sylk, velvet or damaske.

1582.  Middlesex County Rec., I. 130. A piece of linen cloth called ‘a biggen.’

1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 140. Paulus Venetus … affirms that in some parts of Tartarie, there were Mines of Iron whose filaments were weaved into incombustible cloth.

1677.  Yarranton, Engl. Improv., 52. Three hundred weight of Flax … will make four hundred Ells or Cloth.

1712.  Arbuthnot, John Bull (1755), 32. He was forced constantly to wear a surtout of oiled cloth.

1725.  Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v., There are Woollen, Linnen, and other Cloths, which are made of Hemp, Flax, Cotton, Silk, Nettle, &c. there are likewise Cloths of Gold and Silver.

1765.  Act 5 Geo. III. (title), Laws relating to the manufacture of woollen cloth in the county of York.

1798.  W. Nicholson, Jrnl. Nat. Philos., II. 412. (title) On the Art of covering Wire Cloth with a transparent Varnish, as a Substitute for Horn.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Vanderput & S., iv. 76. Sugar, coffee, and woollen cloths were disposed of.

1833.  Penny Cycl., I. Title-p., Price Seven Shillings and Sixpence, bound in cloth.

1866.  Treas. Bot., 172. The natives … manufacture from this bark an exceedingly tough cloth.

1875.  Ure, Dict. Arts, I. 255. A prize for the improvement of asbestos cloth. Ibid., I. 421. The bookbinders cloth now so extensively used, is a cotton fabric. Ibid., III. 120. The manufacture of cloth from flaxen material.

  c.  In various phrasal combinations: Cloth of gold, a tissue consisting of threads, wires or strips of gold, generally interwoven with silk or wool; also applied to gilded cloth; Cloth of silver, a cloth similarly woven with silver. American cloth, a flexible enamelled cloth resembling leather, used for covering chairs, etc.

  Also cloth of ARRAS, BAUDEKIN or bodkin, LAKE, PLEASANCE, RAYNES, TARS, etc.; and BROADCLOTH, CARECLOTH, CERECLOTH, HAIRCLOTH, OILCLOTH, SACKCLOTH, etc., q.v.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1710. The lystes … Hanged with clooth of gold and nat with sarge.

1530.  Palsgr., 206/1. Clothe of sylver, drap dargent.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 732. King Edward and foure other were appareled in cloth of Golde.

1611.  Bible, 2 Macc. v. 2. There were seene horsemen running in the aire, in cloth of golde.

1876.  Rock, Text. Fabr., 12. Costly cloth-of-gold webs were wrought.

1879.  Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 144–5. Hidden by the cloth-of-gold thrown over it by the buttercups.

1881.  Truth, 19 May, 686/1. The train … was covered with hand-wrought embroidery, the material being cloth of silver.

Mod.  Chairs covered with leather or American cloth.

  10.  Phrases. To cut the coat according to the cloth: to adapt oneself to circumstances, keep within the limits of one’s means (see CUT). † The cloth is all of another hue: the case is totally different. † To bring to cloth: to accomplish, finish. And other proverbial expressions.

c. 1430.  Hymns Virg. (1867), 42. We ben bigilid alle wiþ oure lyst. Þe clooþ is al of anothir hew.

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 16. I shall Cut my cote after my cloth. Ibid., 76. It is a bad clothe that will take no colour.

1587.  Turberv., Trag. T., Argt. of 6th Hist., The King … Began to love, who for he was a King, By little sute this match to cloth did bring.

1639.  Fuller, Hist. Holy Warre (1647), 177. This rent (not in the seam but whole cloth) betwixt these Churches was no mean hindrance to the Holy warre.

1883.  C. Reade, Many a Slip, in Harper’s Mag., Dec., 134/2. We can all cut our coat according to our cloth.

  III.  As wearing apparel. [OE. had plural cláðas: see CLOTHES.]

  † 11.  collect. Clothing, raiment, vesture, dress. (no plural.) Obs.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 37. Gif he ne mei don elmesse of claðe ne of mete.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 3208. Hiss claþ wass off ollfenntess hær.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 192. Uor ʓe ne þencheð nowiht of mete, ne of cloð.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 37. Siþ lyf is more þan mete and mannis bodi more þan cloiþ.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., III. v. 303. Mete and drinke, hous and clooth.

1515.  Barclay, Egloges, IV. (1570), C. v/1. I ask … onely cloth and foode.

1533.  Gau, Richt Way (1887), 14. Meit and claith and oder neidful thingis.

1563.  Homilies, II. Rogat. Week, III. (1859), 492. He [God] shall be bread and drink, cloth, physicians, comfort; he shall be all things to us.

1574.  Wills & Inv. N. C. (1835), 403. The said Mighall shall fynde my syster Elsabethe mete drynk and clothe.

c. 1620.  Convert Soule, in Farr’s, S. P. Jas. I. (1848), 90. My food and cloth are most divine.

1816.  Scott, Antiq., xi. Gentle folks … hae … fire and fending, and meat and claith.

  † 12.  A (single) garment, robe, coat (= Ger. ein kleid, Du. een kleed). Obs.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4217. Of him [Joseph] has beistes made þair prai; þis es his clath, þat es well sene. Ibid., 16201. A purprin clath [v.r. cleth] þai on him kest, And gain to pilate broght.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 1328, Dido. A cloth he lafte … Whan he from Dido stal.

1388.  Wyclif, Ps. ci. 27 [cii. 26]. Alle schulen wexe eelde as a clooth [1382 clothing, Vulg. vestimentum].

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XI. 193. The catel þat crist hadde þre cloþes hit were.

  (Senses 13–15 are also closely related to sense 9.)

  † 13.  The distinctive clothing worn by the servants or retainers of a master, or by members of the same profession; livery, uniform. Also fig.

1598.  Florio, Ep. Ded. 4. The retainer … to weare your Honors cloth.

1608–11.  Bp. Hall, Medit. & Vows, III. § 21. Many weare Gods cloth, that know not their Master, that never did good chare in his service.

1617.  Assheton, Jrnl. (1848), 8. To weore his clothe and attend him … at ye Kings comming.

1740.  Life Mrs. Davies, in Defoe’s Wks. (1840), 265. I told him the action … made him unworthy of the king’s cloth.

1823.  Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. xxii. (1865), 169. I reverence … these almost clergy imps [little sweeps] who sport their cloth without assumption.

  14.  Hence: One’s profession (as marked by a professional garb); cf. COAT.

1634.  Sanderson, 20 Serm. (1656), 383. Objecting to you [magistracy] your place, to us [ministry] our cloath (A man of his place, a man of his Cloath, to do thus or thus!) As if any Christian man, of what place, or of what cloath soever, had the liberty to do otherwise then well.

1742.  Fielding, J. Andrews, III. vi. (1743), II. 67 (Hoppe). Some Gentlemen of our Cloth [men-servants] report charitable Actions done by their Lords and Masters.

1857.  Parry, Mem. Adm. Parry, 75 (Hoppe). I think him the most clever man of our cloth [a naval officer].

  b.  esp. applied to the profession of a clergyman or minister of religion.

1634.  [see prec.].

c. 1685.  Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.), Conf., Wks. 1705, II. 57. Neither you, nor any of your Cloth will ever gain that point upon me.

1705.  Hickeringill, Priest-cr., II. viii. 80. My Affection to the Black-Coats of mine own Cloth.

1772.  Mackenzie, Man World, I. viii. (1823), 428. Annesly’s cloth protected him from this last inconvenience.

1787.  ‘G. Gambado,’ Acad. Horsem. (1809), 12, note. An honour to his cloth—is applied to many a drunken Parson; and I do not see why.

1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, i. Like all orthodox divines, he was tenacious of the only sensual enjoyment permitted to his cloth.

1869.  Parkman, Disc. Gt. West, x. (1875), 128. Out of respect for his cloth.

  15.  The cloth (colloq.): the clerical profession; the clergy; the office of a clergyman.

1701.  Swift, Mrs. Harris’s Petition. You know, I honour the cloth; I design to be a parson’s wife.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., xxxi. What did I do but get … a true priest and married them both as fast as the cloth could make them.

1848.  Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, xxvii. (D.). I don’t care to own that I have a respect for the cloth.

1866.  G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xiii. (1878), 272. That execrable word cloth—used for the office of a clergyman.

  b.  used of other professions.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, IX. vi. (D.). I did not mean to abuse the cloth [the military profession].

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xliii. I maintain that that ’ere song’s personal to the cloth…. I demand the name o’ that coachman.

  16.  transf. Covering, skin, ‘coating, coat.’

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xlii. (1495), 159. The guttes ben clothed in tweyne full subtyl clothes … and that is nedfull for yf the one were greuyd the other clothe maye helpe.

1666.  Pepys, Diary, 2 Nov. I also did buy some apples and pork: by the same token, the butcher commended it as the best in England for cloath and colour.

  IV.  Attrib. and Comb.

  17.  attrib. or as adj. Made of cloth, of or pertaining to cloth; connected with cloth and its manufacture. (Formerly often hyphened.)

1592.  Greene, Upst. Courtier, Wks. (Grosart), XI. 222. They were a plaine paire of Cloth-breeches.

1631.  Weever, Anc. Fun. Mon., 51. A cloth-cloake was lighter for summer.

1773.  Gentl. Mag., XLIII. 514. Serges, frizes, druggets, cloth-serges, shalloons, or any other drapery stuffs.

1831.  G. Porter, Silk Manuf., 224. The woven cloth … wound on the cloth roll.

1843.  Penny Cycl., XXVII. 552/2. This … process in the cloth manufacture.

1851.  Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 369/1. The best black suits … are to be cut up and made into new cloth caps for young gentlemen.

1862.  H. Spencer, First Princ., II. xiv. (1875), 318. The growth of the Yorkshire cloth-districts at the expense of those in the West of England.

1864.  Manch. Guard., 4 Nov., 4/4. Black cloth clothes that are too far gone to be ‘clobbered’ and ‘revived’ are always sent abroad to be cut up to make caps.

1882.  Beck, Drapers Dict., s.v., This fair came to be a great cloth market, and the place in which it was held is still known as Cloth Fair.

1888.  A. J. Balfour, in Times, 2 Oct., 10/5. If you think that the cloth coat ought to be treated differently from the frieze coat.

  18.  General comb.: a. attributive (and obj. genit.), as cloth-cutter, -factor, -mercer, press, -presser, -stretcher, -teaseler, -web, etc.; cloth-cropping, -cutting, -drying, -folding, -smoothing, etc.; b. instrumental, as cloth-covered, -cut adjs.

1773.  Gentl. Mag., XLIII. 399. The cloth-cut velvet.

1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res. (1858), 40. Shall we tremble before clothwebs and cobwebs…? Ibid. (1839), Chartism, viii. 168. The Saxon kindred burst forth into cotton-spinning, cloth-cropping.

1851.  H. Melville, Moby-Dick, viii. 42. The perpendicular parts of this side ladder … were of cloth-covered rope.

1854.  Thackeray, Newcomes, I. 13. He was taken into the house of Hobson Brothers cloth-factors.

1875.  Ure, Dict. Arts, I. 421. The cloth-cutter … cuts up the corresponding numbers of covers of the dimensions proper for the book.

1875.  W. S. Hayward, Love agst. World, 9. Your worthy ancestor, the cloth-mercer of Cheapside.

  19.  Special comb.: cloth-binding, book-binding in cotton cloth, embossed silk, etc., as distinct from binding in leather; † cloth-colo(u)r: see quots. (it has been conjectured to be drab or self-color); † cloth-drawer, a workman who ‘draws’ or tenters the woollen cloth; cloth-dresser, a workman who dresses, i.e., teasels and shears woollen cloth; so cloth-dressing; † cloth-driver, ? one who combs or teasels cloth; cloth-hall, a hall, or exchange, where sellers and buyers of woollen cloths meet at stated times to transact business; cloth-laying, the laying of a cloth for dinner, etc.; † cloth-man, a maker or seller of woollen cloth; a clothier; cloth-market, (a.) a market for cloth; (b.) humorous for ‘bed’; cloth-measure, the lineal measure used for cloth, in which the yard is divided into quarters and nails (sixteenths); † cloth-mulberry, the Paper Mulberry Broussonetia papyrifera, of the bark of which the South Sea Islanders make clothing; cloth-paper, a coarse paper used to lay between the folds in pressing and finishing woollen cloths; cloth-prover, a magnifying-glass used to count the threads in a piece of cloth; † cloth-rash, a kind of RASH (q.v.) made of wool; cloth-shearer, a cloth-worker, who shears off the superfluous nap on woollen cloth after teaseling; a machine for doing this; so cloth-shearing; † cloth-stone, asbestos; † cloth-thicker, name given to a fuller; † cloth-tree = cloth-mulberry; † cloth-walk v., to full cloth, cf. Germ. walken; † cloth-writt, ? = cloth-wright, cloth-worker. Also CLOTH-MAKER, -SACK, -WORKER, -YARD.

1681.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1668/4. The one a middle siz’d man … in an old *Cloth-colour riding Coat. Ibid. (1683), No. 1866/8. A parcel of Silk, Dyed into Cloth-colours. Ibid. (1704), No. 4059/4. Lost … a Bundle of Cloth-colours and black Sowing Silk. Ibid. (1685), No. 2059/4. Mr. Wall *Cloath-Drawer in Creechurch-Lane. Ibid. (1720), No. 5827/4. William Graves … Cloath-Drawer. Ibid. (1723), No 6221/3. Paul Greenwood … *Cloathdresser.

1652.  Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 173. I have labored, saith hee [Grotius] … for the preservation of *Clothdressing in our Countrie.

Mod. Newsp.  One wishful to know the state of trade with any cloth-dressing firm, asks how many ‘gigs’ they run.

1501.  Nottingham Corp. Archives, No. 10 e, ro. 1. James Gelderd, *clothdryver.

1836.  Encycl. Brit., s.v. Leeds, The Leeds *cloth-halls … are two, one for the sale of coloured cloths, and one for white cloths only.

1843.  Penny Cycl., XXVII. 550/2. Blackwell Hall, a kind of Cloth Hall whence London dealers and merchants were supplied.

1596.  Bp. W. Barlow, Three Serm., iii. 119. If thou wilt not bid them home (because *cloth-laying is costly) yet send them some sustenance.

1538.  in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. App. lxxxix. 248. There is divers *clothemen, the which I buy al their clothes that they make.

1723.  Lond. Gaz., No. 6193/4. Powell Croft … Cloth-man.

1738.  Swift, Polite Conversation, i. (D.). Miss, your slave; I hope your early rising will do you no harm; I find you are but just come out of the *Cloth-market.

1772–84.  Cook, Voy. (1790), V. 1707. The *cloth-mulberry was planted, in regular rows.

1592.  Greene, Upst. Courtier, Wks. (Grosart), XI. 239. A cloake of *cloth rash.

1611.  Cotgr., Demi drap, Cloth-rash.

1714.  Fr. Bk. of Rates, 366. Cloth-Rash and Tamine common.

c. 1530[?].  in Froude, Hist. Eng., II. 109. A poor man, and by occupation a *cloth-shearer.

1740.  Zollman, in Phil. Trans., XLI. 306. A Cloth-shearer in Holland.

c. 1500.  Cocke Lorell’s B. (1843), 8. *Clothe thyckers, Called fullers.

1777.  G. Forster, Voy. round World, I. 352. Groves of coco, bread-fruit, apple, and *cloth-trees.

1467.  Ord. Worcester, in Eng. Gilds (1870), 383. To dye, carde, or spynne, weve, or *cloth-walke.

1597.  1st Pt. Return Parnass., II. i. 535. It was the same scipjacke that when I knockt at the dore asked what *clothwritt was there [Draper speaks].