Also 8 tarnatan, 9 tarlatane, tarleton. [a. F. tarlatane, dissimilated from tarnatane (1723 in Hatz.-Darm.: cf. quot. 1727–41); prob. of Indian origin.] A kind of thin open muslin, used esp. for ball-dresses.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Muslin, There are various kinds of muslins brought from the East-Indies; chiefly Bengal; betelles, tarnatans, mulmuls [etc.].
1853. Lowell, Lett. (1894), I. iii. 219. The cheapening of a tarlatan muslin.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Tarlatan, a kind of book-muslin principally made in Scotland.
1873. Miss Woolsey, What Katy Did at Sch., x. 166. Cecy has got some beautiful new dresses,—a white muslin, a tarlatan, and a pink silk.
1903. Daily Chron., 3 Oct., 8/4. Tarlatan is another old-world material now being resuscitated for evening dresses.
