Name of a cape on the S. coast of Spain, famed for a great victory of the British fleet over the combined fleets of France and Spain on 21 Oct. 1805, in which Admiral Nelson was killed. Hence a common element in English names of streets and the like, as Trafalgar Square, London, formerly also of stage-coaches, fabrics, etc.; also, the former name of a large size of printing type: see quots.
1826. Haberdasher’s Guide, 15. Trafalgar Cottons, for working muslins, &c.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, vii. Whither is the light four-inside Trafalgar coach carrying us?
1840. Caslon’s Printing Types, Trafalgar.
1841. Savage, Dict. Printing, 802. Trafalgar. 20 [lines contained in one foot]. Ibid., 803. Minion, Brevier, and Trafalgar, may be classed as irregular bodied letters, for they bear no specific regular proportion to any other size.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., Trafalgar, a size of type one size larger than Two-line Double Pica and one size smaller than Canon.
