a. and sb. Also khakee, ka(h)ki, kharki(e, karkee, etc. [Urdū (Pers.) khākī dusty, f. khāk dust.]
A. adj. a. Dust-colored; dull brownish yellow, drab. b. (attrib. use of B.) Made of khaki cloth.
1863. Cornh. Mag., Jan., 45. As to dress … he [Capt. Cureton] confined himself to causing their clothes to be dyed khakee, or mud colour.
1869. E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 395. The comfortable gray or dust-coloured native Khakee cloth.
1884. J. Colborne, Hicks Pasha, 2. We had to provide ourselves with … Karkee jackets.
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 35/2. The new Khaki cloth, the material adopted by the War Office for the troops on active service.
1890. Watt, Dict. Econ. Prod. India, IV. 566. It is needless to attempt an enumeration of all the Khaki dyes of India.
1898. B. Burleigh, Sirdar & Khalifa, ix. 128. The Kharkie trousers of the Lincolns and Warwicks.
1900. Daily News, 24 March, 6/5. Stockings, gloves, sunshades, all are to be khaki.
B. sb. A fabric of this color now largely employed in the British army for field-uniforms. Originally of stout twilled cotton (Khaki drill), but more recently made also of wool (Khaki Bedford, K. serge).
In India, khaki was used for uniforms by the Guide Corps under Lumsden and Hodson in 1848, by the troops in the Mutiny of 1857, in the Afghan campaigns of 1878–80, etc. It was worn in the Soudan Wars of 1883–98, and esp. by the British troops in South Africa in 1899– (Quots. 1857–9. may mean simply the color: cf. ‘dressed in white.’)
1857. H. B. Edwardes, Lett., 21 July, in Lumsden & Elsmie, Lumsden of Guides (1899), 200. The whole of the troops here are dressed in khâkee.
1859. Sir J. Murray, Disp., 27 April, in Delhi Gaz., 23 June. The Infantry were dressed in khakee.
1879. E. S. Bridges, Round the World in 6 Months, 203. The troops here are dressed in ‘khaki.’… It is a kind of strong brown holland, and appears to me to be made of flax.
1883. Times, 11 July, 7/5. Marksmen … in the case of some of the Indian team, in the light serviceable dust-coloured khakee.
1886. Yule & Burnell, Anglo-Ind. Gloss., s.v., The original khakee was a stout cotton cloth, but the colour was also used in broadcloth.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 25 April, 7/1. Khaki is not showy enough except when it is new and well made up, and if constantly worn it tends to promote slovenliness.
1899. S. Crane, in Cornh. Mag., Dec., 749. In came Casper, thin, yellow, and in soiled khaki.
b. Used for a soldier clothed in khaki.
1899. Lumsden & Elsmie, Lumsden of Guides, 85. There used to be a good deal of rivalry between the Guides and the 1st Punjab Rifles … the former were styled ‘Khákis’ from their dust-coloured clothing.
Mod. Newspr. Before daylight the Khakis were at them again.
C. As adj., adv. or sb. in such constr. as to vote khaki, a khaki election, a khaki policy, the khaki loan (khakis), etc., used in reference to the South African War of 1899–, and the war spirit in England at the time.
1900. G. Faber, Sp., in Yorksh. Herald, 5 Jan., 6/2. Are you … going to … vote solid for our Government? (Cheers.) Or may I put it in another way,… will you vote khaki?
1900. Westm. Gaz., 7 Feb., 2/2. The electors at York have voted khaki, as Mr. Faber invited them to do. Ibid., 8. March, 9/1. The market does not know whether the new war loan, Khakis, will be offered at 97, 98, 99, or 100. Ibid., 10 March, 2/2. The financial aspects of the ‘Khaki’ Loan of £30,000,000. Ibid., 23 March, 1/3. Complications of all kinds are likely to arise as the khaki feeling dies down. Ibid., 26 May, 2/2. The result in South Manchester is a great deal more khaki than that in the Isle of Wight.
1900. Dundee Advertiser, 21 Aug., 4. What right has the Government to attempt to ride back to power on ‘khaki’?
1900. St. James’s Gaz., 21 Sept., 6/1. Khaki and Imperialistic allusions are worked in [to a play] to the entire satisfaction of the audience.
D. Comb., as khaki-bound, -clad, -clothed, colo(u)red, -hued adjs.
1879. F. Pollok, Sport Brit. Burmah, II. 177. Khakie-coloured cloth is the best for shooting purposes.
1896. C. Doyle, in Westm. Gaz., 9 April, 2/1. We had speech with three khaki-clad men.
1899. N.-E. Daily Gaz., 25 Nov., 3/3. It was impossible to distinguish the khaki-clothed firing line.
1900. Westm. Gaz., 16 Feb., 3/2. The eleven will wear khaki-hued jerseys.
1900. Academy, 14 April, 313/1. A little khaki-bound collection of ditties about fighting and fighting-men.
1900. Westm. Gaz., 30 Oct., 8/1. What boys they looked, some of the sunburnt khaki-men.
